Relativistic Electron Mirrors
Subtitle: from High Intensity Laser–Nanofoil Interactions
Publisher: Springer
Published: Jul 26, 2014
Format: hardcover
Number of pages: 117
ISBN-13: 9783319077512
Description: A dense sheet of electrons accelerated to close to the speed of light can act as a tuneable mirror that can generate bright bursts of laser-like radiation in the short wavelength range simply via the reflection of a counter-propagating laser pulse. This thesis investigates the generation of such a relativistic electron mirror structure in a series of experiments accompanied by computer simulations. It is shown that such relativistic mirror can indeed be created from the interaction of a high-intensity laser pulse with a nanometer-scale, ultrathin foil. The reported work gives a intriguing insight into the complex dynamics of high-intensity laser–nanofoil interactions and constitutes a major step towards the development of a relativistic mirror, which could potentially generate bright burst of X-rays on a micro-scale.
Notes: Source title: Relativistic Electron Mirrors: from High Intensity Laser–Nanofoil Interactions (Springer Theses)