Short pulse laser interaction with micro-structured targets: simulations of laser absorption and ion acceleration

The interaction of an ultrashort intense laser pulse with thin foil targets is accompanied by the acceleration of ions from the target surface. To make this ion source suitable for application, it is of particular importance to increase the efficiency of laser energy transformation into accelerated ions and the maximum ion energy. This can be achieved by using a thin foil target with a microscopic structure on the front, laser-irradiated surface. The influence of the microscopic structure on the target surface on the laser target interaction and subsequent ion acceleration is studied here using numerical simulations. The influence of the shape and size of the microstructure, the density profile and the laser pulse incidence angle is also studied. Based on the simulation results, we propose to construct the target for ion acceleration experiments by depositing a monolayer of polystyrene microspheres of a size similar to the laser wavelength on the front surface of a thin foil. 4 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. New Journal of Physics 13 (2011) 053028 1367-2630/11/053028+17$33.00 © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft