Evolution of the electric fields induced in high intensity laser-matter interactions

• Main Authors: Bisesto, F. G, Anania, M. P, Botton, M, Chiadroni, E, Cianchi, A, Curcio, A, Ferrario, M, Galletti, M, Henis, Z, Pompili, R, Schleifer, E, Zigler, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 12-03-2018
• Subjects: Physics - Plasma Physics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1803.04161

Multi MeV protons \cite{snavely2000intense} and heavier ions are emitted by
thin foils irradiated by high-intensity lasers, due to the huge accelerating
fields, up to several teraelectronvolt per meter, at sub-picosecond timescale
\cite{dubois2014target}. The evolution of these huge fields is not well
understood till today. Here we report, for the first time, direct and
temporally resolved measurements of the electric fields produced by the
interaction of a short-pulse high-intensity laser with solid targets. The
results, obtained with a sub-$100$ fs temporal diagnostics, show that such
fields build-up in few hundreds of femtoseconds and lasts after several
picoseconds.