  We report on an experimental study on the interaction of a high-contrast 40
fs duration 2.5 TW laser pulse with an argon cluster target. A high-charge,
homogeneous, large divergence electron beam with moderate kinetic energy (~2
MeV) is observed in the forward direction. The results show, that an electron
beam with a charge as high as 10 nC can be obtained using a table-top laser
system. The accelerated electron beam is suitable for a variety of applications
such as radiography of thin samples with a spatial resolution better than 100
micron.
