The generation of micro-fiducials in laser-accelerated proton flows, their imaging property of surface structures and application for the characterization of the flow

A mechanism that has gained great attention in the field of laser-ion acceleration due to remarkable properties of the accelerated beam is laser acceleration of protons from the rear surface of solid targets. It is shown that these protons are capable of transporting structure information from the rear surface of the target into the detector, which can be used to measure essential properties of the flow like an upper limit of the lateral beam emittance and the source area of the laser accelerated protons for a particular energy. In this Letter the essential mechanism responsible for the generation of images of surface structures by laser-accelerated protons is addressed and used to explain the experiment is described in the Letter. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.