| Summary: | The operation of target diagnostics in a high-energy petawatt laser environment is made challenging by the large number of energetic electrons, hard x rays, and energetic particles produced in laser-target interactions. The charged particles and x rays from the target create secondary radiation and a large electromagnetic pulse (EMP) when they hit structures inside the target chamber. The primary particles create secondary particles and radiation that can create excessive background in sensitive detectors. The large EMP can impair or damage electronic equipment and detectors, especially inside the target chamber. Shielding and EMP mitigation strategies developed during experiments at the Rutherford Appleton Vulcan petawatt laser facility will be presented for a variety of detection systems, such as single-photon-counting x-ray charge-coupled device cameras, multiple diamond x-ray detectors, and scintillator-photomultiplier detectors. These strategies will be applied to the development of diagnostic systems for the OMEGA EP, high-energy petawatt laser facility, currently under construction at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.
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