Scattering of a few-cycle laser pulse on a thin metal layer: the effect of the carrier-envelope phase difference

✍ Scribed by S. Varró

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 114 KB
• Volume: 1
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1612-2011
• DOI: 10.1002/lapl.200310010

✦ Synopsis

On the basis of classical electrodynamics the
reflection and transmission of a few-cycle femtosecond Ti:Sa laser
pulse impinging on a thin metal layer have been analysed. The
thickness of the layer was assumed to be much smaller than the
skin depth of the radiation field, and the metallic electrons were
represented by a surface current density. The interaction of the
electrons with a periodic lattice potential has also been taken
into account. The presence of this nonlinear potential leads to
the appearance of higher harmonics in the scattered spectra. A
formal exact solution has been given for the system of the coupled
Maxwell-Lorentz equations describing the dynamics of the surface
current and the radiation field. Besides, an analytic solution was
found in the strong field approximation for the Fourier components
of the reflected and transmitted radiation. In our analysis
particular attention has been paid to the role of the
carrier-envelope phase difference of the incoming few-cycle laser
pulse.