We present the theory of the attosecond pulse generation by a relativistically intense few-cycle laser pulse interacting with a thin plasma slab. In the limit of high plasma density or in the case of two identical pulses irradiating plasma from opposite sides, the electron displacement in the direction perpendicular to the plasma slab is negligible. Electrons moving along the plasma slab form the sliding mirror. The relativistic dynamics of the electrons result in the generation of the phase-locked high order harmonics. After spectral filtering, isolated attosecond pulses with the duration less than 200 as can be obtained. We also find a very efficient regime of the attosecond pulse train generation without any spectral filtering with the energy conversion efficiency into the main peak of about 3%.

Date Published: 22 May 2006
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 6256, ICONO 2005: Ultrafast Phenomena and Physics of Superintense Laser Fields; Quantum and Atom Optics; Engineering of Quantum Information, 62560K (22 May 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.682372

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6256:
ICONO 2005: Ultrafast Phenomena and Physics of Superintense Laser Fields; Quantum and Atom Optics; Engineering of Quantum Information
Hans A. Bachor; Andre D. Bandrauk; Paul B. Corkum; Markus Drescher; Mikhail Fedorov; Serge Haroche; Sergei Kilin; Alexander Sergienko, Editor(s)