Soft X-ray harmonic comb from relativistic electron spikes
physics.plasm-ph
/ Authors
A. S. Pirozhkov, M. Kando, T. Zh. Esirkepov, P. Gallegos, H. Ahmed, E. N. Ragozin, A. Ya. Faenov, T. A. Pikuz, T. Kawachi, A. Sagisaka
and 30 more authors
J. K. Koga, M. Coury, J. Green, P. Foster, C. Brenner, B. Dromey, D. R. Symes, M. Mori, K. Kawase, T. Kameshima, Y. Fukuda, L. Chen, I. Daito, K. Ogura, Y. Hayashi, H. Kotaki, H. Kiriyama, H. Okada, N. Nishimori, T. Imazono, K. Kondo, T. Kimura, T. Tajima, H. Daido, P. Rajeev
/ Abstract
We demonstrate a new high-order harmonic generation mechanism reaching the `water window' spectral region in experiments with multi-terawatt femtosecond lasers irradiating gas jets. A few hundred harmonic orders are resolved, giving uJ/sr pulses. Harmonics are collectively emitted by an oscillating electron spike formed at the joint of the boundaries of a cavity and bow wave created by a relativistically self-focusing laser in underdense plasma. The spike sharpness and stability are explained by catastrophe theory. The mechanism is corroborated by particle-in-cell simulations.