Characterizing Hot Electron Generation and Transport via Bremsstrahlung Emission on the High Intensity OMEGA EP Laser

The investigation of high intensity laser generated fast electron beams is important for a number of High Energy Density Science applications, which include proton sources and fast ignition among others. A series of experimental campaigns performed using the kilojoule, 10-ps OMEGA EP laser closely examined the impact of a preformed plasma on laser plasma interaction and electron generation. Here we present the analysis of the measured bremsstrahlung x-ray radiation and the inferred results on fast electron characteristics. Simulations, performed with the Monte-Carlo code package ITS 3.0, generate the x-ray response of the target to an injected electron beam with a given temperature, energy and divergence angle. The simulated x-rays are then compared to those collected by the bremsstrahlung spectrometers, which allows us to characterize fast electrons created in the experiment. Preliminary results show a decrease in hot electron temperature with an increase in pre-pulse, which is further corroborated by magnetic electron and Cu-K$\alpha $ spectrometers. This work performed under the auspices of the US DOE under contracts DE-FOA-0000583 (FES, NNSA), DE-NA0002026 (NLUF) and DE-FC02-04ER54789 (FSC).