Towards isolated attosecond electron bunches using ultrashort-pulse laser-solid interactions.

ABSTRACT: We investigate MeV-level attosecond electron bunches from ultrashort-pulse laser-solid interactions through similarities between experimental and simulated electron energy spectra. We show measurements of the bunch duration and temporal structure from particle-in-cell simulations. The experimental observation of such bunches favors specular reflection direction when focusing the laser pulse onto a subwavelength boundary of thick overdense plasmas at grazing incidence. Particle-in-cell simulation further reveals that the attosecond duration is a result of ultra-thin ([Formula: see text]tenth of a micron) gaps of zero electromagnetic energy density in the modulated reflected radiation, while the bunching (locally peaked electron concentration) comes from the highly-directional electron angul

SUBMITTER: Lin J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7591899 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature