Laser-driven beams of fast ions, relativistic electrons and coherent x-ray photons
This thesis presents experimental results on the development and optimization of novel and highly compact sources of beams of fast ions, relativistic electrons and coherent x-rays, driven by intense laser-plasma interactions. The rapid development of high-power, short-pulse laser systems have made available peak powers reaching the petawatt regime and focused intensities reaching 10^21 W/cm2. Whe