Laser-driven proton generation with a thin-foil target

Sagisaka, Akito; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Mori, Michiaki; Yogo, Akifumi; Ogura, Koichi; Orimo, Satoshi; Nishiuchi, Mamiko; Ma, J.*; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Kanazawa, Shuhei; Kondo, Shuji; Nakai, Yoshiki; Shimomura, Takuya; Tanoue, Manabu; Akutsu, Atsushi; Okada, Hajime; Motomura, Tomohiro*; Daido, Hiroyuki; Kondo, Kiminori; Bulanov, S. V.; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Nagatomo, Hideo*; Oishi, Yuji*; Nemoto, Koshichi*; Choi, I. W.*; Lee, S. K.*; Lee, J.*

The experiment of proton generation is performed for developing the laser-driven ion source. We observe proton signals in the laser-plasma interaction by using a thin-foil target. To get higher energy protons the size of the preformed plasma is reduced by changing the laser contrast level. In the high-contrast laser pulse case the maximum energy of the protons generated at rear side of the target increases.