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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Investigation of Early Plasma Evolution Induced by Ultrashort Laser Pulses
Published on: July 2, 2012
Laser-pulse-induced second-harmonic and hard x-ray emission: role of plasma-wave breaking
A S Sandhu1, G R Kumar, S Sengupta
1Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1 Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400 005, India. arvinder@jilau1@colorado.edu
Abstract:
We report time resolved measurements of second-harmonic and hard x rays emitted during the interaction of an intense laser pulse (10(16) W cm(-2), 100 fs) with a preplasma generated on a solid target. We observe that for a particular length scale the second harmonic goes through a minimum, while hard x-ray emission on the contrary maximizes. Theoretical or numerical modeling of this anticorrelation in terms of wave breaking of strongly driven electron plasma waves clearly brings out hitherto unexplored links between the physical mechanisms of second-harmonic generation and hard x-ray emission.
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