Abstract
Laser interaction with an ultra-thin pre-structured target is investigated with the help of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. With the existence of a periodic structure on the target surface, the laser seems to penetrate through the target at its fundamental frequency even if the plasma density of the target is much higher than the laser’s relativistically critical density. The particle-in-cell simulations show that the transmitted laser energy behind the pre-structured target is increased by about two orders of magnitude compared to that behind the flat target. Theoretical analyses show that the transmitted energy behind the pre-structured target is actually re-emitted by electron ‘islands’ formed by the surface plasma waves on the target surfaces. In other words, the radiation with the fundamental frequency is actually ‘surface emission’ on the target rear surface. Besides the intensity of the component with the fundamental frequency, the intensity of the high-order harmonics behind the pre-structured target is also much enhanced compared to that behind the flat target. The enhancement of the high-order harmonics is also related to the surface plasma waves generated on the target surfaces.
Highlights
Laser–solid interactions have been widely investigated in recent decades because of their wide applications, such as charged particle acceleration[1,2,3,4,5] and radiation generation[6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]
The pre-structured target can be used to generate highorder harmonics propagating along the target surface[29], which are the so-called surface plasma waves
These surface plasma waves can influence the high-order harmonic generation[30] and the electron transportation to the target back surface, and it is shown in Ref. [31] that, when the laser is obliquely incident, attosecond electron bunches will be generated on the target back surface
Summary
Laser–solid interactions have been widely investigated in recent decades because of their wide applications, such as charged particle acceleration[1,2,3,4,5] and radiation generation[6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. These surface plasma waves can influence the high-order harmonic generation[30] and the electron transportation to the target back surface, and it is shown in Ref.
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