High-order harmonic generation in gas jet targets in the relativistic laser-plasma interaction regime

Pirozhkov, A. S.; Kando, Masaki; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Gallegos, P.*; Ahmed, H.*; Ragozin, E. N.*; Faenov, A. Ya.*; Pikuz, T.; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Sagisaka, Akito; Koga, J. K.; Coury, M.*; Green, J.*; Foster, P.*; Brenner, C.*; Dromey, B.*; Symes, D. R.*; Mori, Michiaki; Kawase, Keigo*; Fukuda, Yuji; Ogura, Koichi; Hayashi, Yukio; Kotaki, Hideyuki; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Okada, Hajime; Nishimori, Nobuyuki; Imazono, Takashi; Kondo, Kiminori; Kimura, Toyoaki*; Tajima, Toshiki; Daido, Hiroyuki; Rajeev, P.*; McKenna, P.*; Borghesi, M.*; Neely, D.*; Kato, Yoshiaki* ; Bulanov, S. V.

We experimentally demonstrate a new regime of high-order harmonic generation by relativistic-irradiance lasers in gas jet targets. Bright harmonics with both the odd and even orders are generated in the forward direction by either linearly or circularly polarized pulses, while the base harmonic frequency is downshifted. With a 9 TW laser, the harmonics reach the "water window" spectral region. Using a 120 TW laser, we demonstrate the photon number scalability up to 40 uJ/sr per harmonic at 120 eV. We introduce a new harmonic generation mechanism based on the relativistic plasma phenomena and catastrophe theory.