Measurement and optimisation of ion energies from laser-cluster interactions

Summary form only given. The fusion cross-section of a D-D reaction is very strongly dependent on ion energy and so knowing the ion energies achieved from laser-cluster interactions and being able to optimise them is very important for optimisation of the fusion process. We present results of two experiments, a measurement of the proton energy distribution achieved from the expansion of large hydrogen clusters and the enhancement of ion energies from higher-Z clusters by varying the chirp of the laser pulse.