Ion acceleration with high-intensity lasers and application to isochoric heating

Very nonlinear mechanisms are at play in the acceleration of ions with high-intensity laser pulses, and the properties of the resulting particle beams depend on many parameters. We first explore, in this article, the dependence on the target density profile and on the laser pulse duration. We next show numerically that using targets on which thin, low-density proton layers are deposited, it should be possible to produce proton beams suitable for heating a solid aluminum target to the GJ/kg level over a depth of several micrometers. To cite this article: E. Lefebvre et al., C. R. Physique 10 (2009).