Experimental tests and signal unfolding of a scintillator calorimeter for laser-plasma characterization

With the development of high-intensity and high-repetition rate laser systems, it has become crucial to be able to detect and characterize in real time the high-energy byproducts (mainly electrons and photons) of laser-generated plasma. A novel multi-purpose scintillator-based electromagnetic calorimeter focused on high-energy particle and photon measurements and capable of working on a shot-by-shot basis at high-repetition rate is being developed at the ELI Beamlines center. Preliminary tests of this device under photon and electron irradiation from conventional and laser-driven sources are summarized and the results are here presented. A corresponding signal unfolding technique which was ad-hoc developed to reconstruct energies of one or two thermal populations in short time is described in detail.