The reflectivity of relativistic ultra-thin electron layers

Abstract

The coherent reflectivity of a dense, relativistic, ultra-thin electron layer is derived analytically for an obliquely incident probe beam. Results are obtained by two-fold Lorentz transformation. For the analytical treatment, a plane uniform electron layer is considered. All electrons move with uniform velocity under an angle to the normal direction of the plane; such electron motion corresponds to laser acceleration by direct action of the laser fields, as it is described in a companion paper. Electron density is chosen high enough to ensure that many electrons reside in a volume λ_R^3, where λ_R is the wavelength of the reflected light in the rest frame of the layer. Under these conditions, the probe light is back-scattered coherently and is directed close to the layer normal rather than the direction of electron velocity. An important consequence is that the Doppler shift is governed by γ_x=(1-(V_x/c)^2)^{-1/2} derived from the electron velocity component V_x in normal direction rather than the full γ-factor of the layer electrons.

7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the special issue "Fundamental Physics with Ultra-High Fields" in The European Physical Journal D

References in corpus (4)

• Theory of high harmonic generation in relativistic laser interaction with overdense plasma
• Relativistic Doppler effect: universal spectra and zeptosecond pulses
• Relativistic plasma control for single attosecond pulse generation
• Coherent Thomson backscattering from laser-driven relativistic ultra-thin electron layers

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Laser-like X-ray Sources Based on Optical Reflection from Relativistic Electron Mirror
• Coherent Thomson backscattering from laser-driven relativistic ultra-thin electron layers
• Bright subcycle XUV pulse from a single dense relativistic electron sheet
• Non-Maxwellian electron distributions resulting from direct laser acceleration in near-critical plasmas
• Acceleration of ultra-thin electron layer. Analytical treatment compared with 1D-PIC simulation
• Coherent radiation reaction effects in laser-vacuum acceleration of electron bunches
• Determination of Carrier-Envelope Phase of Relativistic Few-Cycle Laser Pulses by Thomson Backscattering Spectroscopy
• Coherent keV backscattering from plasma-wave boosted relativistic electron mirrors
• Reflectivity and Spectrum of Relativistic Flying Plasma Mirrors
• Thomson backscattering from laser generated, relativistically moving high-density electron layers
• Single attosecond XUV pulse source via light-wave controlled relativistic laser-plasma interaction: Thomson Back Scattering Scheme