Kinetics of ultrashort relativistic electron pulses emitted from solid targets

Interaction of ultrashort high-intensity laser pulses with solid targets generates relativistic electrons which escape from the target. The kinetics of these ultrashort electron pulses is governed by self-fields generated by the charge of the electron cloud. In this paper an analytical theory is developed which allows calculation of electron trajectories, electron fluxes, and electron spectra at any distance from the target. The theory is exact for two limiting cases: (a) a monoenergetic electron pulse with an arbitrary temporal shape; (b) an infinitely short electron pulse with an arbitrary energy spectrum. These results have applications in high-intensity irradiation experiments, e.g., in experiments irradiating samples with ultrashort electron or x-ray pulses, in developing optics for fourth-generation light sources, and in work relating to x-ray lasers.