On-target temporal characterization of optical pulses at relativistic intensity

• Published in: Light, science & applications Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Leshchenko, Vyacheslav E., Kessel, Alexander, Jahn, Olga, Krüger, Mathias, Münzer, Andreas, Trushin, Sergei A., Veisz, Laszlo, Major, Zsuzsanna, Karsch, Stefan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23-10-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 639/624/400/385; 639/624/400/3923; 639/624/400/584; 639/766/1960/1135; Applied and Technical Physics; Atomic; Classical and Continuum Physics; Lasers; Molecular; Nonlinear systems; Optical and Plasma Physics; Optical Devices; Optics; Photonics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Relativism
• ISSN: 2047-7538; 2095-5545; 2047-7538
• DOI: 10.1038/s41377-019-0207-1

High-field experiments are very sensitive to the exact value of the peak intensity of an optical pulse due to the nonlinearity of the underlying processes. Therefore, precise knowledge of the pulse intensity, which is mainly limited by the accuracy of the temporal characterization, is a key prerequisite for the correct interpretation of experimental data. While the detection of energy and spatial profile is well established, the unambiguous temporal characterization of intense optical pulses, another important parameter required for intensity evaluation, remains a challenge, especially at relativistic intensities and a few-cycle pulse duration. Here, we report on the progress in the temporal characterization of intense laser pulses and present the relativistic surface second harmonic generation dispersion scan (RSSHG-D-scan)—a new approach allowing direct on-target temporal characterization of high-energy, few-cycle optical pulses at relativistic intensity.
Lasers: Lighting up high-intensity pulses
A new approach for characterizing intense optical pulses, by directly analyzing their interaction with a target, will help researchers to advance many strong-field applications. The development of applications such as laser-based charged-particle acceleration and bright coherent X-ray generation requires accurate knowledge of the characteristics of laser light at relativistic intensity. The approach is a refined form of ‘dispersion scanning’, which monitors the effect of an intense laser pulse as it interacts with material, thereby taking advantage of the processes that occur at relativistic intensities. The technique has been developed by Vyacheslav Leshchenko and colleagues at the Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany. It is especially effective at tackling the difficult challenge of characterizing how very short intense pulses vary with time.