High performance SiC detectors for MeV ion beams generated by intense pulsed laser plasmas

Silicon carbide (SiC) detectors were used to analyze the multi-MeV ions of the plasma produced by irradiation of various targets with a 300-ps laser at intensity of 10¹⁶ W/cm². The SiC detectors were realized by fabricating Schottky diodes on 80 μm epitaxial layer. The low dopant concentration and defect density of the epilayer allowed the realization of good performance detectors. The use of SiC detectors ensures the cutting of the visible and soft ultraviolet radiation emitted from plasma enhancing the sensitivity to very fast ions. The time-of-flight spectra obtained by irradiating different targets show a peak associated to protons and various peaks relative to different charge states of ions. Processing of the experimental data allows to estimate the energies of the protons and of the different ions emitted from laser-induced plasma. The SiC detector results are compared with the ones obtained by Ion Collector and a Thomson Parabola spectrometer.