Coherence-based transverse measurement of synchrotron x-ray radiation from relativistic laser-plasma interaction and laser-accelerated electrons

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2006 Oct;74(4 Pt 2):045401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.74.045401. Epub 2006 Oct 17.

Abstract

We observe Fresnel edge diffraction of the x-ray beam generated by the relativistic interaction of a high-intensity laser pulse with He gas. The observed diffraction at center energy 4.5 keV agrees with Gaussian incoherent source profile of full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) < 8 microm. Analysis indicates this corresponds to an upper limit on the transverse profile of laser-accelerated electrons within the plasma in agreement with three-dimensional, particle-in-cell results (FWHM = 4 microm).