Dynamics of bulk electron heating and ionization in solid plasmas driven by ultra-short relativistic laser pulses

We investigate the dynamics of bulk electron heating and ionization in solid density plasmas driven by ultra-short relativistic laser pulses. During laser-plasma interactions, the solid plasma absorbs a fraction of laser energy and converts it into kinetic energy of electrons. A part of the electrons with high kinetic energy travels through the solid plasma and transfers energy into bulk electrons, which results in bulk electron heating by return current. The bulk electron temperatures in the interest of bulk region agrees very well with the theory based on Ohmic heating mechanism by treating the return current correctly. The bulk electron heating is finally translated into bulk ionization dynamics, which is modeled by Thomas-Fermi ionization mechanism in our studies.