Spatial characterization of debris ejection from the interaction of a tightly focused PW-laser pulse with metal targets

Abstract

We present a novel scheme for rapid quantitative analysis of debris generated during experiments with solid targets following relativistic laser-plasma interaction at high-power laser facilities. Experimental data indicates that predictions by available modelling for non-mass-limited targets are reasonable, with debris on the order of hundreds ug-per-shot. We detect for the first time that several % of the debris is ejected directional following the target normal (rear- and interaction side); and confirm previous work that found the debris ejection in direction of the interaction side to be larger than on the side of the target rear.