Ion acceleration by intense, few-cycle laser pulses with nanodroplets

The energy distribution of electrons and ions emerging from the interaction of a few-cycle Gaussian laser pulse with spherical nanoclusters is investigated with the aim of determining prospects for accelerating ions in this regime. It is found that the direct conversion of laser energy into dense attosecond electron nanobunches results in rapid charge separation and early onset of Coulomb-explosion-dominated ion dynamics. The ion core of the cluster starts to expand soon after the laser has crossed the droplet, the fastest ions attaining 10 s of MeV at relativistic intensities. The current investigation should serve as a guide for contemporary experiments, i.e., using state-of-the-art few-cycle ultraintense lasers and nanoclusters of solid density. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.