Measurement of highly transient electrical charging following high-intensity laser-solid interaction

The multi-million-electron-volt proton beams accelerated during high-intensity laser–solid interactions have been used as a particle probe to investigate the electric charging of microscopic targets laser-irradiated at intensity ;1019 Wcm2. The charge-up, detected via the proton deflection with high temporal and spatial resolution, is due to the escape of energetic electrons generated during the interaction. The analysis of the data is supported by three-dimensional tracing of the proton trajectories.