A new method of generation of high-energy highly charged ion beams is proposed. The method is based on the interaction of petawatt circularly polarized laser pulses with high-$Z$ compound targets consisting of two species of different charge-to-mass ratio. It is shown that highly charged ions produced by field ionization can be accelerated up to tens of $\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{u}$ with ion (actually with $Z\le 25$) beam parameters like density and total charge inaccessible in conventional accelerators. A possibility of further ionization of the accelerated ion bunches in foil is also discussed.

• Received 20 February 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.245008