Relativistic electron drift in overdense plasma produced by a superintense femtosecond laser pulse.

The general peculiarities of electron motion in the skin layer at the irradiation of overdense plasma by a superintense linearly polarized laser pulse of femtosecond duration are considered. The quiver electron energy is assumed to be a relativistic quantity. Relativistic electron drift along the propagation of laser radiation produced by a magnetic part of a laser field remains after the end of the laser pulse, unlike the relativistic drift of a free electron in underdense plasma. As a result, the penetration depth is much larger than the classical skin depth. The conclusion has been made that the drift velocity is a nonrelativistic quantity even at the peak laser intensity of 10(21) W/cm(2). The time at which an electron penetrates into field-free matter from the skin layer is much less than the pulse duration.