Proton beams by metal targets

Nowadays, the transport and acceleration of particle beams is performed by conventional accelerators, but in the last decade the scientific community is focused on the study of laser-driven ion acceleration, which can offer a potentially more compact and cost-effective mean of delivering ions/protons. For this, the choice of the target plays a fundamental role in the quality of the ion beam. The starting point to obtain protons is the use of materials rich in hydrogen or hydrogenated chemical compounds. In this paper, we show ablation measurements on Al, Ta and Ti targets to obtain proton beams. These materials are known to be good hydrogen adsorbers.