Related papers: Self-aligning concave relativistic plasma mirror w…
Reaching light intensities above $10^{25}$ W/cm$^{2}$ and up to the Schwinger limit ($10^{29}$ W/cm$^{2}$) would enable testing decades-old fundamental predictions of Quantum Electrodynamics. A promising yet challenging approach to achieve…
Plasma-based optics have emerged as a powerful platform for manipulating and amplifying ultra-intense laser pulses. However, the inherently nonlinear and dynamic nature of plasma leads to significant spatial, spectral, and temporal…
Reflection at relativistically moving plasma mirrors is a well-known approach for frequency conversion as an alternative to nonlinear techniques. A key issue with plasma mirrors is the need for a high carrier concentration, of order 10^21…
In this letter, cutting-edge 3D Particle-In-Cell simulations are used to demonstrate that so-called relativistic plasma mirrors irradiated by PetaWatt (PW) lasers and naturally curved by laser radiation pressure can be used to tightly focus…
Relativistic flying mirrors in plasmas are realized as thin dense electron (or electron-ion) layers accelerated by high-intensity electromagnetic waves to velocities close to the speed of light in vacuum. The reflection of an…
An ideal plasma lens can provide the focusing power of a small f-number, solid-state focusing optic at a fraction of the diameter. An ideal plasma lens, however, relies on a steady-state, linear laser pulse-plasma interaction. Ultrashort…
Exceptional pulse contrast can be critical for ultraintense laser experiments, particularly when using solid density targets, and their use is becoming widespread. However, current plasma mirror technology is becoming inadequate for the new…
The advent of ultrahigh-power femtosecond lasers creates a need for optical components suitable to handle ultrahigh light intensities. Due to the unavoidable laser-induced ionization of matter, these components will have to be based on a…
Relativistic mirrors can be realized with strongly nonlinear Langmuir waves excited by intense laser pulses in underdense plasma. On reflection from the relativistic mirror the incident light affects the mirror motion. The corresponding…
Flying plasma mirrors induced by intense lasers has been proposed as a promising way to generate few-cycle EUV or X-ray lasers. In addition, if such a relativistic plasma mirror can accelerate, then it would serve as an analog black hole to…
Relativistic self-focusing and channeling of intense laser pulses have been studied in underdense plasma using 2D PIC simulations, for different laser powers and plasma densities. Analytical solutions for the stationary evacuated channels…
The relativistic flying parabolic mirror can provide a higher laser intensity than the intensity a current laser system can reach via the optical-focusing scheme. A weakly-relativistic laser intensity (1.8$\times$10$^{17}$ W/cm$^2$, $\eta$…
We present ultrafast pump-probe reflectivity and Doppler spectrometry of a silicon target at relativistic laser intensity. We observe an unexpected rise in reflectivity to a peak approximately $\sim$9 ps after the main pulse interaction…
We report on attosecond-scale control of high-harmonic and electron emission from plasma mirrors driven by relativistic-intensity near-single-cycle lightwaves at kHz repetition rate. By controlling the waveform of the intense light…
We demonstrate analytically and numerically that focusing of high harmonics produced by the reflection of a few femtosecond laser pulse from a concave plasma surface opens a new way towards unprecedentally high intensities. The key features…
The question of electromagnetic field intensification towards the values typical for strong field Quantum Electrodynamics is of fundamental importance. One of the most promising intensification schemes is based on the relativistic-flying…
A thin layer of overdense plasma is created when an electromagnetic pulse interacts with a rapidly ionizing thin foil. This layer will reflect the incoming pulse, forming a so-called plasma mirror. A simple realistic model based on paired…
A method for the controlled generation of intense high frequency electromagnetic fields by a breaking Langmuir wave (relativistic flying mirrors) in a gradually inhomogeneous plasma is proposed. The wave breaking threshold depends on the…
Since the advent of chirped pulse amplification1 the peak power of lasers has grown dramatically and opened the new branch of high field science, delivering the focused irradiance, electric fields of which drive electrons into the…
Attosecond pulses provide unique opportunities for studies of time-resolved electron dynamics. However, focusing these pulses, typically ranging from the vacuum ultraviolet to the soft-X-ray region, remains challenging. Conventional…