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Neutron time of flight signals have been observed with a high resolution neutron spectrometer using the petawatt arm of the Vulcan laser facility at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory from plastic sandwich targets containing a deuterated layer. The neutron spectra have two elements: a high-energy component generated by beam-fusion reactions and a thermal component around 2.45?MeV. The ion temperatures calculated from the neutron signal width clearly demonstrate a dependence on the front layer thickness and are significantly higher than electron temperatures measured under similar conditions. The ion heating process is intensity dependent and is not observed with laser intensities on target below 1020?W?cm?2. The measurements are consistent with an ion instability driven by electron perturbations.

We report filamentation of subpicosecond UV laser pulses with only millijoule energy in atmosphere. The results are in good agreement with a numerical simulation using a quasi-three-dimensional propagation code.