Experimental characterization of particle sources generation on the LMJ-PETAL facility

Laser-plasma interactions are an innovative way to create exotic particle beams that have both industrial and fundamental prospects. Picosecond duration and kilojoule energy laser pulses are formidable tools to induce the acceleration of compact, bright and energetic particle beams in conditions that only a few installations in the world can reach. This work focused on the qualification of the particle source terms from several laser-plasma interaction experiments conducted with the ps-kJ class laser PETAL. The experimental results demonstrate the production of beams of electrons, positrons, nucleons and photons in different experimental campaigns at the LMJ-PETAL facility of the CEA-DAM. This work combines a thorough experimental work on the facility instrumentation, with Monte-Carlo (Geant4) and particle-in-cell (CALDER) simulations aiming at numerically reproducing the particle sources measured in each experiment.