Effect of a laser beam focus position on ion emission from plasmas produced by picosecond and sub-nanosecond laser pulses from solid targets.

The dependences of parameters of laser-produced ion fluxes on the laser focus position with respect to the target surface for picosecond laser pulses are presented and compared with the ones for sub-nanosecond pulses at nearly the same densities of laser energy. The experiments were performed with the use of chirped-pulse-amplification Nd:glass laser system. Thick Au targets were irradiated by normally incident laser pulses. The maximum intensities of the focused laser beams were 8 * 10/sup 16/ and 2 * 10/sup 14/ W/cm/sup 2/ for ps and sub-ns laser pulses, respectively. The particle fluxes were analysed with the use of ion collectors and an electrostatic ion-energy analyser. The ion current densities and the charges carried by ions as well as the maximum and peak velocities of fast and thermal ion groups as a function of the focus position for ps and sub-ns pulses were determined.