title: Control of strong-laser-field coupling to electrons in solid targets with wavelength-scale spheres.
abstract: Irradiation of a planar solid by an intense laser pulse leads to fast electron acceleration and hard x-ray production. We have investigated whether this high field production of fast electrons can be controlled by introducing dielectric spheres of well-defined size on the target surface. We find that the presence of spheres with a diameter slightly larger than half the laser wavelength leads to Mie enhancements of the laser field which, accompanied by multipass stochastic heating of the electrons, leads to significantly enhanced hard x-ray yield and temperature.
authors.affiliation: Texas Center for High Intensity Laser Science, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Sumeruk
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kneip
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Symes
authors.forename: I V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Churina
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Belolipetski
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Donnelly
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ditmire