Attosecond pulse generation by relativistic flying mirrors in laser-plasma interaction: Effect of plasma density and driver amplitude on the generated pulse.

The generation of high-intensity attosecond pulses by the interaction of two counterpropagating short laser pulses with underdense plasma is investigated. By using parallel fully kinetic particles in cell simulation, which shows the formation of relativistic flying mirrors in the wake wave of the intense driver laser pulse and the focusing reflection of the weak source pulse, it is demonstrated that intense attosecond pulses can be produced under the optimized conditions of plasma density and driver laser amplitude according to the relativistic similarity theory. In addition, it is shown that the frequency of the source pulse is upshifted by a factor from 10 to 80 corresponding to a reflected radiation wavelength from 20 to 164 nm which lies in the extreme ultraviolet region, while most of the energy lies around a frequency upshift of 20, in agreement with the measured Lorentz factor. The intensity of the main attosecond pulse is two orders higher than the source pulse intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]