Note: A new angle-resolved proton energy spectrometer

In typical laser-driven proton acceleration experiments Thomson parabola proton spectrometers are used to measure the proton spectra with very small acceptance angle in specific directions. Stacks composed of CR-39 nuclear track detectors, imaging plates, or radiochromic films are used to measure the angular distributions of the proton beams, respectively. In this paper, a new proton spectrometer, which can measure the spectra and angular distributions simultaneously, has been designed. Proton acceleration experiments performed on the Xtreme light III laser system demonstrates that the spectrometer can give angle-resolved spectra with a large acceptance angle. This will be conductive to revealing the acceleration mechanisms, optimization, and applications of laser-driven proton beams. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.