Features of ion acceleration by circularly polarized laser pulses

The characteristics of a MeV ion source driven by superintense, ultrashort laser pulses with circular polarization are studied by means of particle-in-cell simulations. Predicted features include high efficiency, large ion density, low divergence, and the possibility of femtosecond duration. A comparison with the case of linearly polarized pulses is made. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.