Interaction of high-intensity laser pulses with solid targets results in generation of large quantities of energetic electrons that are the origin of various effects such as intense x-ray emission, ion acceleration, and so on. Some of these electrons are escaping the target, leaving behind a significant positive electric charge and creating a strong electromagnetic pulse long after the end of the laser pulse. We propose here a detailed model of the target electric polarization induced by a short and intense laser pulse and an escaping electron bunch. A specially designed experiment provides direct measurements of the target polarization and the discharge current in the function of the laser energy, pulse duration, and target size. Large-scale numerical simulations describe the energetic electron generation and their emission from the target. The model, experiment, and numerical simulations demonstrate that the hot-electron ejection may continue long after the laser pulse ends, enhancing significantly the polarization charge.

Results of an experimental study of multi-MeV bremsstrahlung x-ray sources created by picosecond laser pulses are presented. The x-ray source is created by focusing the short pulse in an expanding plasma obtained by heating a solid target with a time-delayed nanosecond laser beam. The high-energy part of the x-ray spectrum and emission lobe are inferred from photonuclear activation techniques. The x-ray dose is measured with silicon diodes. Two-dimensional images of the source are reconstructed from a penumbral imaging technique. These results indicate the creation of a relatively small source, below 200μm diameter, delivering doses up to 12mrad in air at 1m with x-ray temperature up to 2.8MeV. The diagnostics used give access to a whole set of coherent experimental results on the x-ray source properties which are compared to extensive numerical simulations. X-ray intensity and temperature are found to increase with the size of the preplasma.

When high intensity (≥1019 W cm−2) laser light interacts with matter, multi-MeV electrons are produced. These electrons can be utilized to generate a MeV bremsstrahlung x-ray emission spectrum as they propagate into a high-Z solid target positioned behind the interaction area. The short duration (<10 ps) and the small diameter (<500 μm) of the x-ray pulse combined with the MeV x-ray spectrum offers an interesting alternative to conventional bremsstrahlung x-ray sources based on an electron accelerator used to radiograph dense, rapidly moving objects. In experiments at the Omega EP laser, a multi-MeV x-ray source is characterized consistently with number of independent diagnostics. An unfiltered x-ray dose of approximately 2 rad in air at 1 m and a source diameter of less than 350 μm are inferred. Radiography of a complex and high area density (up to 61 g/cm2) object is then performed with few hundred microns spatial resolution.