Development and Optical Characterization of Supersonic Gas Targets for High-Intensity Laser Plasma Studies

Laser particle acceleration is a rapid growing field due to the compactness and smaller cost when compared to traditional accelerators, as well as the potential for new applications resulting from the unique characteristics of the beams generated. Frequently, laser acceleration techniques require laser intensities higher than 100's of PW/cm
²
and high-density gas targets, with specific profiles. In the effort to implement laser electron acceleration in our laboratories, we report the development of submillimetric, supersonic gas nozzles, the implementation of optical techniques for the determination of the gas jets density profiles, and the characterization of laser-induced plasmas obtained at laser intensities surpassing 10
¹⁶
W/cm
²
. The characterization techniques employed include plasma spectroscopy, interferograms and Schlieren images.