Measurements of electromagnetic pulses generated from ultra-thin targets at Vulcan Petawatt

One of the effects accompanying the laser-target interaction at high laser intensities is the generation of strong electromagnetic pulses (EMP) with frequencies in the range of tens of MHz to few GHz [1]. Such pulses may interfere with the electronics of the data acquisition systems and pose a threat to the safe and reliable operation of high-intensity laser facilities, it is therefore important to characterize them for various laser and target conditions and to develop a predictive model. A dedicated effort was made to this end [2-7], but it seems that definite quantitative understanding of the EMP phenomenon has not been achieved, and this subject continues to attract interest [8-15]. Recent investigations have shown that besides being an issue of considerable practical importance the EMP effect is also a challenging scientific problem.