Protons emission from thin doped polymeric films using pulsed laser

Abstract

Protons production and acceleration via laser-generated plasma from thin Fe 2O 3 and carbon nano-tubes doped polyethylene films are investigated at relatively low laser pulse intensity, of the order of 10 10 W/cm 2. Time-of-flight technique is employed in order to measure the proton energy and the relative yield with respect to the carbon one. Two ion collectors are used in opposite directions to detect the proton energy and yield both in backward and forward directions, normally to the irradiated target surface, as a function of the thin target doping concentration. The comparison between the results obtained with thin films doped with two nano-particle species is presented and discussed, with a special regard to the high proton emission.