AbstractIn this paper the route towards the current optimum of laser generated ion beams by subsequently changing the important parameters such as target thickness, laser pulse contrast, angle of incidence and laser pulse polarization is sketched. Beginning with parameters of isothermal target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA), we reached the regime where the plasma expansion can be described adiabatically and results in a symmetric ion acceleration. Further we demonstrated a way to phase match the accelerating electron population with the ions, namely coherent acceleration of ions by laser pulses (CAIL), which finally lead to radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) if the laser polarization was changed from linear to circular. These findings of ion acceleration with transparent solid targets are additionally supported by analyzing the optical properties of the transmitted laser pulse (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)