A pulsed neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser ion source has been used as proton beams generator. The laser wavelength is 1064 nm, the pulse duration is 9 ns and the intensity reaches 10(10) W/cm(2). Laser irradiates hydrogenated polymers targets located in a chamber at 10(-7) mbar. The ions are post-accelerated in a suitable chamber by 30 kV of voltage between the target, positively biased, and the following ground electrode. The extracted beams is characterized through a time-of-flight technique. Possible applications to the field of nuclear physics, such as nuclear excitation and de-excitations, nuclear reactions and nuclear fusion, will be presented and discussed.