Time-sequence imaging of relativistic laser-plasma interactions using a novel two-color probe pulse

Abstract

We describe and demonstrate a novel experimental technique to record two picosecond-separated images of the evolution of a single-shot laser-produced plasma using a two-color probe beam. In this technique, the probe beam was first partially frequency doubled. The 1ω and 2ω components were then temporally separated in a dispersive medium. The pulses remained intrinsically synchronized, both having a duration of 150 fs, but they were separated by 4.1 ps. Using a Nomarskii-type interferometer, this novel technique was used to obtain two time-resolved snapshots of the evolution of the electron density at different time steps during the formation of a relativistic plasma channel.