Relativistic Doppler effect: universal spectra and zeptosecond pulses

Abstract

We report on a numerical observation of the train of zeptosecond pulses produced by reflection of a relativistically intense femtosecond laser pulse from the oscillating boundary of an overdense plasma because of the Doppler effect. These pulses promise to become a unique experimental and technological tool since their length is of the order of the Bohr radius and the intensity is extremely high $\propto 10^{19}$ W/cm${}^2$. We present the physical mechanism, analytical theory, and direct particle-in-cell simulations. We show that the harmonic spectrum is universal: the intensity of $n$th harmonic scales as $1/n^p$ for $n<4{\gamma }^2$, where $\gamma$ is the largest $\gamma$--factor of the electron fluid boundary, $p=3$ and $p=5/2$ for the broadband and quasimonochromatic laser pulses respectively.

4 figures

Cited by in corpus (41)

• Dynamically assisted Schwinger mechanism
• Theory of high harmonic generation in relativistic laser interaction with overdense plasma
• Attosecond Lighthouses
• Determination of the Carrier-Envelope Phase of Few-Cycle Laser Pulses with Terahertz-Emission Spectroscopy
• Enhanced relativistic harmonics by electron nanobunching
• Generation of Intense High-Order Vortex Harmonics
• Ultrarelativistic nanoplasmonics as a new route towards extreme intensity attosecond pulses
• Harmonic Generation from Relativistic Plasma Surfaces in Ultra-Steep Plasma Density Gradients
• Relativistic plasma control for single attosecond pulse generation
• Identification of coupling mechanisms between ultraintense laser light and dense plasmas
• Strong laser fields as a probe for fundamental physics
• Coherent Thomson backscattering from laser-driven relativistic ultra-thin electron layers
• The Unexpected Role of Evolving Longitudinal Electric Fields in Generating Energetic Electrons in Relativistically Transparent Plasmas
• Theory of relativistic radiation reflection from plasmas
• Vacuum high harmonic generation in the shock regime
• Relativistic ionization-rescattering with tailored laser pulses
• Boosting quantum vacuum signatures by coherent harmonic focusing
• The reflectivity of relativistic ultra-thin electron layers
• Streaking at high energies with electrons and positrons
• Spectral control of high harmonics from relativistic plasmas using bicircular fields
• Yoctosecond photon pulses from quark-gluon plasmas
• A non-linear theory for the bubble regime of plasma wake fields in tailored plasma channels
• Analytical approach to high harmonics spectrum in the nanobunching regime
• Generation of XUV spectral continua from relativistic plasma mirrors driven in the near-single-cycle limit
• Sub-laser-cycle control of relativistic plasma mirrors
• Attospiral generation upon interaction of circularly polarized intense laser pulses with cone-like targets
• How to generate intense isolated attosecond pulses from relativistic plasma mirrors?
• Detectable Optical Signatures of QED Vacuum Nonlinearities using High-Intensity Laser Fields
• Quantum vacuum processes in the extremely intense light of relativistic plasma mirror sources
• Mapping the power-law decay of high-harmonic spectra from laser-plasma interactions
• Motion of the Plasma Critical Layer During Relativistic-electron Laser Interaction with Immobile and Comoving Ion Plasma for Ion Acceleration
• Kramers-Krönig approach to the electric permittivity of the vacuum in a strong constant electric field
• Stimulated-Raman-scattering amplification of attosecond XUV pulses with pulse-train pumps and application to local in-depth plasma-density measurement
• Physics of the laser-plasma interface in the relativistic regime of interaction
• Towards attosecond pulse synthesis from solids: spectral shaping, field autocorrelation, and two-color harmonic generation
• Numerical optimization of quantum vacuum signals
• Employing machine learning for theory validation and identification of experimental conditions in laser-plasma physics
• Ultra-strong laser pulses: streak-camera for gamma-rays via pair production and quantum radiative reaction
• One-dimensional steady-state structures at relativistic interaction of laser radiation with overdense plasma for finite electron temperature
• Relativistic Frequency Synthesis of Light Fields
• Recreating Fundamental Effects in the Laboratory?