Generation of isolated attosecond electron bunches by the diffraction of a polarization-tailored intense laser beam

Abstract: We propose utilizing a polarization-tailored high-power laser pulse to extract and accelerate electrons from the edge of a solid foil target to produce isolated attosecond electron bunches. The laser pulse consists of two orthogonally-polarized components with a time delay comparable to the pulse duration, such that the polarization in the middle of the pulse rapidly rotates over 90$^\circ$ within few optical cycles. Three-dimensional (3D) Particle-in-Cell simulations show that when such a light pulse diffracts at the edge of a plasma foil, a series of isolated relativistic electron bunches are emitted into separated azimuthal angles determined by the varying polarization. In comparison with most other methods that require an ultra-short drive laser, we show the proposed scheme works well with typical multi-cycle ($\sim 30~$fs) pulses from high-power laser facilities. The generated electron bunches have typical durations of a few hundred attoseconds and charges of tens of picocoulombs.