Tunable Enhancement of High Harmonic Emission from Laser Solid Interactions

Coherent wake emission is a unique source of extreme ultraviolet radiation and has been recently shown to provide the basis for intense attosecond light. Here we present a novel scheme, supported by particle-in-cell simulations, demonstrating that enhancement and spectral control of the coherent wake emission signal can be achieved by modifying the interaction plasma density ramp. Significant tunable enhancement of harmonic emission is verified experimentally, with factors of > 50 in relative signal increase achieved in a narrow band of harmonics at the cutoff frequency.