Multispecies ion acceleration off laser-irradiated water droplets

In a recent experiment at Max-Born Institut, Berlin, strong modulations have been observed in energy spectra of MeV ions that were accelerated by ultrashort intense laser pulses, tau(L)=35 fs, I=10(19) W/cm(2), off water droplets. This experiment is studied analytically as well as by numerical particle-in-cell simulations in one and two dimensions and it is shown how classical isothermal fluid expansion models fail in the present case. The paper investigates alternative models which claim to describe the ion spectral modulations and a mechanism that generates proton spectra similar to the experimental ones due to a simultaneous acceleration of several ion components. Finally, the issue of directional anisotropy in the spectra of accelerated ions for the case of a spherical target is discussed. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.