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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Sub-laser-cycle control of relativistic plasma mirrors

L. Chopineau1,2,*, G. Blaclard1,*, A. Denoeud1,2, H. Vincenti1, F. Quéré1, and S. Haessler3,†

  • 1LIDYL, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
  • 2CEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297 Arpajon, France
  • 3Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, ENSTA-Paris, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, 91120 Palaiseau, France

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †stefan.haessler@ensta-paris.fr.
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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L012030 – Published 11 March, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L012030

Abstract

We present measurements of high-order harmonics and relativistic electrons emitted into the vacuum from a plasma mirror driven by temporally shaped ultraintense laser wave forms, produced by collinearly combining the main laser field with its second harmonic. We experimentally show how these observables are influenced by the phase delay between these two frequencies at the attosecond timescale, and relate these observations to the underlying physics through an advanced analysis of 1D/2D particle-in-cell simulations. These results demonstrate that subcycle shaping of the driving laser field provides fine control on the properties of the relativistic electron bunches responsible for harmonic and particle emission from plasma mirrors.

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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L012030– Published 11 March, 2022
  • Received 29 July 2021
  • Accepted 6 January 2022
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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