Development of a calibration instrument for high-intensity light sources

This projects aims at the development of in-situ calibration protocols for high-intensity lasers, in particular, for the high-power laser PHELIX at GSI. To this end, the unique capabilities of the HITRAP installation will be exploited  where a large variety of trapped highly charged ions can be exposed to radiation from high-intensity light source (HILITE). Hydrogen-like ions with varying nuclear charge will be used for the characterization of light-pulses, i.e., the intensity distribution of the light pulses will be monitored by recording ion yields and by measuring the ion acceleration  in the intensity gradient that arises from the focussing of the light-field. Scaling rules will be applied to check the consistency of the results. This project will, thus, add a new functionality to HITRAP, i.e, to serve as a laser-calibration instrument for an accurate pulse characterisation of the PHELIX laser. In addition, experimental deviations from the predictions could point to novel phenomena during light-matter interactions at extreme intensities.