A diagnostic for micrometer sensitive positioning of solid targets in intense laser-matter interaction

A target position monitoring diagnostic, relevant to intense laser-solid interaction, is presented. The alignment system, having a sensitivity of few micrometers, consist of an infinity corrected long working distance objective, a broadband illuminating source and a CCD camera. The imaging system, placed along the axis of incident laser pulse, serves the dual purpose of laser focus diagnosis and precise positioning of the target in three dimension axis. By employing this technique, solid targets with thickness varying from opaque micrometer thick foils to few nanometer thin transparent foils can be aligned precisely. The effectiveness of the entire alignment system is demonstrated in enhanced acceleration of ions in intense laser-matter interaction, with very high reproducibility.