Ion acceleration from ultra thin foils on ASTRA-Gemini laser with 50fs, 1020-1021 W/cm2 pulses

We report on experimental investigations of ion acceleration from thin foil targets irradiated with ultra-short (~ 50 fs), high contrast (~1010) and ultra-intense (up to 1021 W/cm2) laser pulses. These measurements provided for the first time the opportunity to extend the scaling laws for the acceleration process in the ultra-short regime beyond the 1020 W/cm2 threshold, and to access new ion acceleration regimes. The scaling of accelerated ion energies was investigated by varying a number of parameters such as target thickness (down to 10 nm), laser light polarization (circular and linear), angle of laser incidence (oblique-350, normal) and laser energy. The effect of target thickness on the ion flux produced was also investigated at 350 and normal laser incidence on target.