Detailed Experimental Study of Ion Acceleration by Interaction of an Ultra-Short Intense Laser with an Underdense Plasma

Ion acceleration from intense (I lambda(2) > 1018 Wcm(-2) mu m(2)) laser-plasma interaction is experimentally studied within a wide range of He gas densities. Focusing an ultrashort pulse (duration. ion plasma period) on a newly designed submillimetric gas jet system, enabled us to inhibit total evacuation of electrons from the central propagation channel reducing the radial ion acceleration associated with ponderomotive Coulomb explosion, a mechanism predominant in the long pulse scenario. New ion acceleration mechanism have been unveiled in this regime leading to non-Maxwellian quasi monoenergetic features in the ion energy spectra. The emitted nonthermal ion bunches show a new scaling of the ion peak energy with plasma density. The scaling identified in this new regime differs from previously reported studies.