REDISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRON ENERGIES AT THE INTERFACE BETWEEN LASER-RADIATION-FILLED SPACE AND VACUUM

Using a simple one-dimensional model, we show that at the interface be tween a half-space filled by laser radiation and vacuum a considerable redistribution of the energies of electrons, either scattered or ioni zed in the laser field, takes place. This indicates that electron spec tra evaluated by using electromagnetic plane wave fields for the descr iption of a laser pulse, cannot reliably be compared with data observe d experimentally.