Laser ion acceleration control

Issues in laser ion accelerator include an energy efficiency from laser to ions, ion beam collimation, ion energy spectrum control, ion beam bunching and ion particle energy control. In this study each component is designed to control the ion beam quality. The energy efficiency from the laser to ions is improved by using a solid target with a fine sub-wavelength structure or a near-critical density gas plasma. The ion beam collimation is performed by holes behind the solid target or a multi-layered solid target. The control of the ion energy spectrum and the ion particle energy, and the ion beam bunching are successfully realized by a multi-stage laser-target interaction.