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 (< 10 λ 0), via surface plasma wave excitation is investigated. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are performed for laser intensities ranging from 10 19 to 10 20 Wcm - 2 μ m 2. 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.