High Energy Photon Generation and Charged Particle Acceleration with Relativistic Mirrors

Relativistic flying mirrors in plasmas are thin, dense electron or electron-ion layers accelerated by high-intensity electromagnetic waves to velocities close to the speed of light in the vacuum. The reflection of the electromagnetic wave from the relativistic mirror results in its energy and frequency changing. In the counter-propagation configuration, the frequency of the reflected wave is upshifted. This scientific area promises the development of sources of ultrashort X-ray pulses in the attosecond range. The expected intensity will reach the level at which the effects predicted by nonlinear quantum electrodynamics start to play a key role. In the co-propagating configuration, the energy of the electromagnetic wave is transferred to the energy of high quality ion beams, providing a highly efficient acceleration mechanism.