ИСТИНА

The process of formation of relativistic electron beams from tape gas targets was studied with two-dimensional numerical simulations. Achievable characteristics of the beams were found, such as the maximum energy of the electrons and the spread of the electrons’ energy, maximum achievable electron density in the beam, achievable duration, lifetime, etc. It is shown that for a moderate electron density of the layer and sufficiently large diameter of the laser beam, dynamic characteristics of the plasma layer electrons can be analytically estimated based on equations of motion for a single electron in the field of a laser pulse. Besides, the formation of the beams from a plasma layer with variable density, as well as the formation with laser pulses of different duration was also investigated. It is shown that for some range of parameters, a single relativistic electron bunch can be formed, which is appropriate for generation of coherent attosecond x-ray pulse using the counter reflection of the probe laser pulse.