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We report on the setup and commissioning of a compact recollimating single plasma mirror for temporal contrast enhancement at the Draco 150 TW laser during laser-proton acceleration experiments. The temporal contrast with and without plasma mirror is characterized single-shot by means of self-referenced spectral interferometry with extended time excursion (SRSI-ETE) at unprecedented dynamic and temporal range. This allows for the first single-shot measurement of the plasma mirror trigger point, which is interesting for the quantitative investigation of the complex pre-plasma formation process at the surface of the target used for proton acceleration. As a demonstration of high contrast laser plasma interaction we present proton acceleration results with ultra-thin liquid crystal targets of ~ 1 $mu$m down to 10 nm thickness. Focus scans of different target thicknesses show that highest proton energies are reached for the thinnest targets at best focus. This indicates that the contrast enhancement is effective such that the acceleration process is not limited by target pre-expansion induced by laser light preceding the main laser pulse.
Plasma wakefield acceleration is the most promising acceleration technique for compact and cheap accelerators, thanks to the high accelerating gradients achievable. Nevertheless, this approach still suffers of shot-to-shot instabilities, mostly relat
Development of x-ray phase contrast imaging applications with a laboratory scale source have been limited by the long exposure time needed to obtain one image. We demonstrate, using the Betatron x-ray radiation produced when electrons are accelerated
The low repetition rates and possible shot-to-shot variations in laser-plasma studies place a high value on single-shot diagnostics. For example, white-beam scattering methods based on broadband backlighter x-ray sources are used to determine changes
Precise information about the temporal mode of optical states is crucial for optimizing their interaction efficiency between themselves and/or with matter in various quantum communication devices. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a meth
Accelerating particles to relativistic energies over very short distances using lasers has been a long standing goal in physics. Among the various schemes proposed for electrons, vacuum laser acceleration has attracted considerable interest and has b