Improved ion acceleration via laser surface plasma waves excitation

The possibility of enhancing the emission of the ions accelerated in the interaction of a high intensity ultra-short (<100 fs) laser pulse with a thin target (<10λ0), via surface plasma wave excitation is investigated. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are performed for laser intensities ranging from 1019 to 1020 Wcm−2μm2. The surface wave is resonantly excited by the laser via the coupling with a modulation at the target surface. In the cases where the surface wave is excited, we find an enhancement of the maximum ion energy of a factor ∼2 compared to the cases where the target surface is flat.