Speaker
Description
We present and compare experimental studies of electromagnetic pulses (EMP) produced by the interaction of relativistic laser pulses at intensities of several 10^20 W/cm^2 with solid density targets. Passive calibrated B-field antennas with large bandwidth from 9 kHz to 400 MHz are used to detect electromagnetic pulses and excited cavity modes triggered by the laser-plasma interaction.
Both high-power 30 fs lasers, VEGA-2 with 200 TW and VEGA-3 with 1 PW, were deployed to discharge targets by hundreds of nano Coulomb. The escaping relativistic electrons trigger successive return current dynamics in the target and strong electromagnetic fields in the interaction chamber.
Building upon the study, we present prospects for a target geometry mitigating EMP and potentially applicable to particle beam collimation.
