Wavebreaking-associated transmitted emission of attosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulses from laser-driven overdense plasmas

Abstract

We present a new mechanism of attosecond extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulses generation from a relativistic laser-driven overdense plasma surfaces in the wavebreaking regime. Through particle-in-cell simulations and analysis, we demonstrate that the observed ultrashort XUV emission for the parameters we considered is predominantly due to a strong plasma-density oscillation subsequent to wavebreaking. The coupling of the strong density variation and the transverse fields in the front surface layer gives rise to the transmitted emission with frequencies mainly around the local plasma frequency. This mechanism provides new insights into the scenarios of XUV generation from solid surfaces and the dynamics of laser-plasma interactions.