Efficient proton acceleration with ultra-short laser pulses

We present a systematic investigation of ultra-short pulse laser acceleration of protons yielding unprecedented maximum proton energies of 19 MeV using the Ti:Sa based high power laser (150 TW) Draco at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. For plain few micron thick foil targets a linear scaling of the maximum proton energy with laser power is observed and attributed to the short acceleration period close to the target rear surface [1]. The influence of laser pulse contrast, laser polarization and laser incidence angle on the proton maximum energy and angular distribution has been investigated.
Although excellent laser pulse contrast was available slight deformations of the target rear were found to lead to a predictable shift of the direction of the energetic proton emission away from target normal towards the laser direction. The change of the emission characteristics are compared to analytical modelling and 2D PIC simulations.
Additionally, an increase of laser to proton energy conversion efficiency by use of mass limited Au disks with diameters between 20 µm and 100 µm and sub-micron thickness could have been demonstrated.