PS-1/S1 picosecond streak camera application for multichannel laser system diagnostics

A PS-1/S1 picosecond image-tube streak camera (ITSC) with slit scan (streak camera), developed and manufactured at the General Physics Institute RAS, has been used to measure the spatiotemporal characteristics of ultrashort laser pulses generated by a petawatt-power laser installation 'FEMTO' at the Institute of Laser Physics Research in Sarov. It is found that such a camera is suitable for measuring the spatial and temporal parameters of single laser pulses with an accuracy of about one picosecond. It is shown that the intensity time profile of a train of picosecond pulses may be precisely defined for the pulses separated in time by a few picoseconds. The camera allows the contrast of radiation to be determined with a high (no less than 10³) accuracy; spatial distribution of the laser pulses can be measured with an accuracy of tens of microns, and the temporal separation of single laser pulses can be identified with an accuracy of 1 – 1.5 ps.