Diamond detectors for time-of-flight measurements in laser-generated plasmas

CVD mono-crystalline diamond thin films deposited on a doped diamond and aluminum backing were employed as detectors of the radiation emitted from the laser-generated plasma. Laser-matter interactions were obtained by the use of an Nd:Yag repetitive laser at INFN-LNS in Catania operating at 1010W/cm2 pulse intensity, and a high-power iodine PALS laser in Prague operating at 1015W/cm2 pulse intensity. Plasmas were obtained by ablating Al, Ta, Au, and CF2 bulk targets. Plasma characterization was carried out using diamond detectors and ion collectors placed at different distances and angles in relation to the position of the ablated target. Photons, electrons, and ions hitting the sensible volume of the detector generate electronhole pairs (loosing 13eV for a pair), resulting in an arising of the voltage signal at the device electrodes, which is proportional to the deposited energy. Diamond detectors can measure UV, X-rays, electrons, and ions. The time-of-flight (TOF) technique was exploited to separate photon, electron, and particle contributions. Because of the high gap of the diamond band structure (5.48eV), the detectors are blind to visible and IR light from the plasma, which results in very low background current. The TOF diamond spectra were compared with traditional ion collector spectra using the experimental data obtained from the experiments conducted at the Catania and Prague laboratories. The results indicate that the ion energy resolution of the employed diamond detectors is high and that the fast electrons can be detected from a deconvolution procedure applied to the fast photo-peak. Information about the mean energy of soft X-rays could be obtained by analyzing the fast contribute of the spectra acquired by using different absorber films.