Hu S X, Starace Anthony F
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0111, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Jun 17;88(24):245003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.245003. Epub 2002 Jun 4.
Ultraintense laser interactions with highly charged ions are investigated using three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations. Results show that ultraenergetic GeV electrons may be produced for highly charged ions chosen so that their electrons remain bound during the rise time of the laser pulse, and so that the electrons are ionized when the laser is near its maximum amplitude, which satisfies the best injection condition for subsequent laser acceleration.