Acceleration of ultra - thin electron layer . Analytical treatment compared with 1 D - PIC simulation

In this paper, we apply an analytical model [V.V. Kulagin et al., Phys. Plasmas 14,113101 (2007)] to describe the acceleration of an ultra-thin electron layer by a schematic single-cycle laser pulse and compare with one-dimensional particle-in-cell (1D-PIC) simulations. This is in the context of creating a relativistic mirror for coherent backscattering and supplements two related papers in this EPJD volume. The model is shown to reproduce the 1D-PIC results almost quantitatively for the short time of a few laser periods sufficient for the backscattering of ultra-short probe pulses. PACS. 41.75.Jv Laser-driven acceleration, – 52.59.-f Intense particle beams and radiation sources in physics of plasmas, – 29.25.-t Particle sources and targets