This paper describes design, development, and implementation of a multi-channel magnetic electron spectrometer for the application in laser–plasma interaction experiments carried out at the Prague Asterix Laser System. Modular design of the spectrometer allows the setup in variable configurations to evaluate the angular distribution of hot electron emission. The angular array configuration of the electron spectrometers consists of 16 channels mounted around the target. The modules incorporate a plastic electron collimator designed to suppress the secondary radiation by absorbing the wide angle scattered electrons and photons inside the collimator. The compact model of the spectrometer measures electron energies in the range from 50 keV to 1.5MeV using ferrite magnets and from 250 keV to 5MeV using stronger neodymium magnets. An extended model of the spectrometer increases the measured energy range up to 21MeV or 35MeV using ferrite or neodymium magnets, respectively. Position to energy calibration was obtained using the particle tracking simulations. The experimental results show the measured angularly resolved electron energy distribution functions from interaction with solid targets. The angular distribution of hot electron temperature, the total flux, and the maximum electron energy show a directional dependence. The measured values of these quantities increase toward the target normal. For a copper target, the average amount of measured electron flux is 1.36 × 10¹¹, which corresponds to the total charge of about 21 nC.

The discovery of chirped pulse amplification has led to great improvements in laser technology, enabling energetic laser beams to be compressed to pulse durations of tens of femtoseconds and focused to a few micrometers. Protons with energies of tens of MeV can be accelerated using, for instance, target normal sheath acceleration and focused on secondary targets. Under such conditions, nuclear reactions can occur, with the production of radioisotopes suitable for medical application. The use of high-repetition lasers to produce such isotopes is competitive with conventional methods mostly based on accelerators. In this paper, we study the production of 67Cu, 63Zn, 18F, and 11C, which are currently used in positron emission tomography and other applications. At the same time, we study the reactions 10B(p,α)7Be and 70Zn(p,4n)67Ga to put further constraints on the proton distributions at different angles, as well as the reaction 11B(p,α)8Be relevant for energy production. The experiment was performed at the 1 PW laser facility at Vega III in Salamanca, Spain. Angular distributions of radioisotopes in the forward (with respect to the laser direction) and backward directions were measured using a high purity germanium detector. Our results are in reasonable agreement with numerical estimates obtained following the approach of Kimura and Bonasera [Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 637, 164–170 (2011)].

Generation of spontaneous magnetic fields (SMFs) is one of the most interesting phenomena accompanying an intense laser–matter interaction. One method of credible SMFs measurements is based on the magneto-optical Faraday effect, which requires simultaneous measurements of an angle of polarization plane rotation of a probe wave and plasma electron density. In classical polaro-interferometry, these values are provided independently by polarimetric and interferometric images. Complex interferometry is an innovative approach in SMF measurement, obtaining information on SMF directly from a phase–amplitude analysis of an image called a complex interferogram. Although the theoretical basis of complex interferometry has been well known for many years, this approach has not been effectively employed in laser plasma research until recently; this approach has been successfully implemented in SMF measurement at the Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS). In this paper, proprietary construction solutions of polaro-interferometers are presented; they allow us to register high-quality complex interferograms in practical experiments, which undergo quantitative analysis (with an original software) to obtain information on the electron density and SMFs distributions in an examined plasma. The theoretical foundations of polaro-interferometric measurement, in particular, complex-interferometry, are presented. The main part of the paper details the methodology of the amplitude–phase analysis of complex interferograms. This includes software testing and examples of the electron density and SMF distribution of a laser ablative plasma generated by irradiating Cu thick planar targets with an iodine PALS laser at an intensity above about 10¹⁶ W/cm².

Measurements had been performed of strong electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) generated as a result of laser–target interaction at the sub-ns kJ-class Prague Asterix Laser System facility. Two conductive Prodyn FD5C D-dot pencil probes were used. Measurements were performed inside the experimental chamber and outside the chamber in a large chamber window 40 cm in diameter in a setup that guaranteed 6 GHz bandwidth. A very good signal-to-noise ratio (17:1) was obtained after some steps were taken to ensure proper EMP shielding of the data collection setup. The EMP signal in the time domain was found to have the form of a sharp initial spike followed by gradually decaying oscillations interspersed with some secondary spikes. The values of the vertical component of the electric field strength were estimated. The highest value recorded in this experiment was 620 − 180 + 260 kV m⁻¹ at a distance of 40 cm from the target. It was observed that plastic targets—particularly the 100s of µm thick plastic foils—tend to generate stronger EMP fields than Cu and Au targets. A time-frequency analysis was performed for a typical shot, clearly showing some spectral features that appear only sometime after the start of the signal and hence indicate EMP generation from secondary sources. Electrons ejected from the target were recorded with the energies exceeding 1.5 MeV, which indicates that highly energetic processes are triggered as a result of the laser–target interaction.

The interaction of high-power laser pulses with undercritical foams produced by different techniques but with the same average density is studied at the PALS laser facility. The spatial–temporal evolution of X-ray emission is observed using an X-ray streak camera, electron and ion temperatures are measured by X-ray spectroscopy, and hot-electron production is characterized by monochromatic X-ray imaging. Transmission of a femtosecond laser probe pulse through foams is observed in the near and far fields. In spite of large differences in pore size and foam structure, the velocity of ionization front propagation is quite similar for all the foams studied and is slower than that in a homogeneous material of the same average density. The ion temperature in the plasma behind the ionization front is a few times higher than the electron temperature. Hot-electron production in plastic foams with small pores is strongly suppressed compared with that in solid targets, whereas in foams produced by additive manufacturing, it is significantly increased to the level observed in bare copper foil targets.

This paper presents experimental investigation of temperature scaling and threshold of instability in hot electron and bremsstrahlung radiation from the interaction of sub-nanosecond and kilo-joule class laser pulses with a tantalum foil target at Prague Asterix Laser System. The laser intensity was varied between 4 × 10 15 and 3 × 10 16 W · cm⁻² at the target focus. The energy distribution functions of electrons were measured by an angular array of magnetic spectrometers indicating the electron temperature in the range between 30 keV and 70 keV. The bremsstrahlung spectrum was characterized using a scintillator-based calorimeter. In particular, we show the laser-energy scaling of the total flux of hot electrons in the forward and backward directions with respect to the laser vector, the conversion efficiency of the laser energy to the energy carried by hot electrons, and the temperature of hot electrons as well as the unfolded bremsstrahlung temperature using a Monte Carlo code consistent with signals of the scintillator detector. The scaling shows that the electron flux increases discontinuously with increasing laser intensity from ∼ 1 − 2 × 10 16 W · cm⁻² with consequent instability in the production of hot electrons and bremsstrahlung radiation.