Multi-MeV beams of light ions have been produced using the 300 picosecond, kJ-class iodine laser, operating at the Prague Asterix Laser System facility in Prague. Real-time ion diagnostics have been performed by the use of various time-of-flight (TOF) detectors: ion collectors (ICs) with and without absorber thin films, new prototypes of single-crystal diamond and silicon carbide detectors, and an electrostatic ion mass spectrometer (IEA). In order to suppress the long photopeak induced by soft X-rays and to avoid the overlap with the signal from ultrafast particles, the ICs have been shielded with Al foil filters. The application of large-bandgap semiconductor detectors (>3 eV) ensured cutting of the plasma-emitted visible and soft-UV radiation and enhancing the sensitivity to the very fast proton/ion beams. Employing the IEA spectrometer, various ion species and charge states in the expanding laser-plasma have been determined. Processing of the experimental data based on the TOF technique, including estimation of the plasma fast proton maximum and peak energy, ion beam currents and total charge, total number of fast protons, as well as deconvolution processes, ion stopping power, and ion/photon transmission calculations for the different metallic filters used, are reported.

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The plasma generated from thin gold films irradiated in high vacuum at high intensity (∼1015 W/cm2) laser shot is characterized in terms of ion generation through time-of-flight techniques and Thomson parabola spectrometry. Gold ions and protons, accelerated in forward direction by the electric field developed in non-equilibrium plasma, have been investigated. Measurements, performed at PALS laboratory, give information about the gold charge states distributions, the ion energy distributions and the proton acceleration driven as a function of film thickness, laser parameters, and angular emission. The ion diagnostics of produced plasma in forward direction permits to understand some mechanisms developed during its expansion kinetics. The role of the focal position of a laser beam with respect to the target surface, plasma properties, and the possibility to accelerate protons up to energies above 3 MeV has been presented and discussed.

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A Nd:YAG pulsed laser is employed to irradiate different metals in vacuum at the ECLISSE facility of the Laboratorio Nazionale del Sud, Catania, INFN. Laser pulse energy, 9 ns in width, ranges between 100 and 900 mJ. The ejection of atoms by means of laser irradiation is studied in terms of angular distribution, laser etching yield and film thickness deposited on a substrate. Light elements (Ni, Cu) show an angular distribution that is larger than heavy ones (W, Pb). A theoretical approach, applied to fit experimental data, indicates that the distribution depends on the high power of cos θ and that the flow velocity of ejected atom ranges between 27 000 and 88 000 m/s and the kinetic energy of ejected species ranges between 0.7 and 4.4 keV.

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