High Harmonic Generation from Relativistic Plasmas

Laser technology has recently made accessiblerelativistic intensities. The contemporaryrelativistic laser-plasma physics is in urgent needof new ideas to explain the highly non-linearresponse of matter exposed to radiation drivingelectrons nearly to the speed of light. This bookstudies relativistic laser-matter interaction withemphasis on coherent X-ray generation and phenomenaat the critical surface. The theory of relativisticspikes predicts the universal harmonic spectrum andthe X-ray source's robustness, which were confirmedexperimentally. It describes the generation of highenergy electrons by the critical surface and coherentX-rays at the front and rear plasma side. This theoryshows the universal features of relativistic dynamicsand their connection to similarity, whichtraditionally advances hydrodynamics and engineering.Tunable coherent X-ray sources and attosecondmetrology are some of the perspective applications ofthe novel physics. The book is intended for graduateand postgraduate students, scientists and engineersinterested in relativistic laser-plasma theory, X-raysources, ultra-short pulses, inertial fusion andoriginal ideas of modern physics.