Laser Diagnostics

High-intensity lasers are needed to study Laser-plasma Physics to generate enough field strength to ionize and accelerate particles. in order to run those experiments efficiently and to understand the results, a laser characterization is a key approach. Laser diagnostics cover basically four groups of measurements: energy, temporal, spatial, and spectral measurements. Knowing the type of laser to characterize is crucial to know what strategy must be used to measure it.

In this session, main laser characterization techniques are review with its principle of operation. The session is oriented to ultra-short, ultra-intense lasers with a high repetition rate in the near-infrared region of the spectrum. Several commercial devices will be review as well as a common strategy to a day full laser characterization scheme used in the CLPU with its PW-class laser.