Relativistic Electron Acceleration by a Laser of Intensity in Excess of 10^20 W cm^-2

International audienceRelativistic electrons with energies in excess of 300 MeV have been observed resulting from the interaction of a 0.3 PW laser beam focused to intensities of around 3 × 10^20 W cm^-2 interacting with an underdense plasma. Two dimensional particle in cell simulation of the interaction shows that an interaction directly between preheated electrons and the intense laser field is responsible for the maximum acceleration