• Rapid Communication

Relativistic slingshot: A source for single circularly polarized attosecond x-ray pulses

Jingwei Wang, Sergei V. Bulanov, Min Chen, Bifeng Lei, Yuxue Zhang, Rishat Zagidullin, Veronika Zorina, Wei Yu, Yuxin Leng, Ruxin Li, Matt Zepf, and Sergey G. Rykovanov
Phys. Rev. E 102, 061201(R) – Published 15 December 2020
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

We propose a mechanism to generate a single intense circularly polarized attosecond x-ray pulse from the interaction of a circularly polarized relativistic few-cycle laser pulse with an ultrathin foil at normal incidence. Analytical modeling and particle-in-cell simulation demonstrate that a huge charge-separation field can be produced when all the electrons are displaced from the target by the incident laser, resulting in a high-quality relativistic electron mirror that propagates against the tail of the laser pulse. The latter is efficiently reflected as well as compressed into an attosecond pulse that is also circularly polarized.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 13 January 2020
  • Revised 14 June 2020
  • Accepted 1 December 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.102.061201

©2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Plasma Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Jingwei Wang1,2,*, Sergei V. Bulanov3, Min Chen4,2, Bifeng Lei5,6, Yuxue Zhang5,6, Rishat Zagidullin7, Veronika Zorina7, Wei Yu1, Yuxin Leng1, Ruxin Li1, Matt Zepf5,6, and Sergey G. Rykovanov7,†

  • 1State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics, CAS Center for Excellence in Ultra-intense Laser Science, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai 201800, China
  • 2Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
  • 3Institute of Physics ASCR, v.v.i. (FZU), ELI-Beamlines Project, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
  • 4Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (MoE), School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
  • 5Helmholtz Institute Jena, Fröbelstieg 3, 07743 Jena, Germany
  • 6Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
  • 7Center for Computational and Data-Intensive Science and Engineering, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow 121205, Russia

  • *wangjw@siom.ac.cn
  • S.Rykovanov@skoltech.ru

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 102, Iss. 6 — December 2020

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review E

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×