Comparative study of laser ion acceleration with different contrast enhancement techniques

Abstract : The study of the interaction between ultrashort laser pulses at relativistic intensities and solid matter has promoted, in recent years, a promising way of investigating ultrafast phenomena and has suggested the possibility of efficiently producing accelerated particle beams. As laser technology has been improving and increasing intensities and energies, it has become clear that the temporal contrast of a laser pulse is a key parameter in defining the conditions of interaction and the involved phenomena. In this paper we present the results that have been obtained in laser ion acceleration experiments from recent past to present days, using the most recent temporal cleaning methods. Different technologies have been adopted to improve the temporal contrast: the obtained effect on the proton acceleration is presented and discussed.