Diagnostics for laser-driven plasma accelerators

When generating relativistic plasmas with high power laser systems small-scale particle accelerators can be realized producing particle pulses which exhibit parameters complementary to conventional accelerators. To be able to resolve the physical processes underlying the acceleration mechanisms diagnostics well-suited for this plasma environment need to be designed and realized. In this presentation, several techniques are introduced, and recent results are discussed. They have lead to the first time-resolved visualization of the plasma wave necessary for laser-driven electron acceleration, its non-linear evolution and the actual breaking of the plasma wave. Furthermore, diagnostic techniques relevant for laser-driven ion acceleration based on optical and particle probing are presented.