Prediction of the irradiation doses from ultrashort laser-solid interactions using different temperature scalings at moderate laser intensities

The ionising radiation created by high intensity and high repetition rate lasers can cause significant radiological hazard. Earlier defined electron temperature scalings are used for dose characterisation and prediction using Monte Carlo modelling. Dosimetric implications of different electron temperature scalings are investigated and the resulting equivalent doses are compared. It was found that scaling defined by Beget al(1997Phys. Plasmas4447-57) predicts the highest electron temperatures for given intensities, and subsequently the highest doses. The atomic number of the target, x-ray generation efficiency and interaction volume are the other parameters necessary for the dose evaluation. The set of these operational parameters should be sufficient to characterise radiological characteristics of ultrashort laser pulse based x-ray generators and evaluate radiological hazards of the laser processing facilities.