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    Stable laser-ion acceleration in the light sail regime
    (College Park : American Institute of Physics Inc., 2013) Steinke, S.; Hilz, P.; Schnürer, M.; Priebe, G.; Bränzel, J.; Abicht, F.; Kiefer, D.; Kreuzer, C.; Ostermayr, T.; Schreiber, J.; Andreev, A.A.; Yu, T.P.; Pukhov, A.; Sandner, W.
    We present experimental results on ion acceleration with circularly polarized, ultrahigh contrast laser pulses focused to peak intensities of 5×1019 W cm-2 onto polymer targets of a few 10 nanometer thickness. We observed spatially and energetically separated protons and carbon ions that accumulate to pronounced peaks around 2 MeV containing as much as 6.5% of the laser energy. Based on particle-in-cell simulation, we illustrate that an early separation of heavier carbon ions and lighter protons creates a stable interface that is maintained beyond the end of the radiation pressure dominated acceleration process.