Hot-Electron Generation with Kilojoule Pulses on OMEGA EP

Intense laser--solid interactions generate high-current electron sources with relativistic energies that are important for advanced ignition experiments. Applications include rapid heating for fast ignition and energy deposition in solid material for flash radiography, isochoric heating, and x-ray scattering experiments. Results of laser-electron coupling experiments carried out on the OMEGA EP laser with up to 1.3-kJ, 10-ps-long pulses will be presented. Strong ($\sim $20{\%}) energy coupling to electrons is demonstrated with conversion efficiencies \textit{independent} of the laser pulse duration. This work was supported by the U.S. D.O.E Office of Inertial Confinement Fusion under Cooperative Agreement Nos. DE-FC02-ER54789 and DE-FC52-08NA28302. (P.M. Nilson, R. Betti, and D.D. Meyerhofer also FSC.)