Abstract
High-order harmonics and attosecond pulses of light can be generated when ultraintense, ultrashort laser pulses reflect off a solid-density plasma with a sharp vacuum interface, i.e., a plasma mirror. We demonstrate experimentally the key influence of the steepness of the plasma-vacuum interface on the interaction, by measuring the spectral and spatial properties of harmonics generated on a plasma mirror whose initial density gradient scale length is continuously varied. Time-resolved interferometry is used to separately measure this scale length.
- Received 7 December 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.175001
© 2013 American Physical Society