On the origin of super-hot electrons from intense laser interactions with solid targets having moderate scale length preformed plasmas

We use particle-in-cell modeling to identify the acceleration mechanism responsible for the observed generation of super-hot electrons in ultra-intense laser-plasma interactions with solid targets with pre-formed plasma. We identify several features of direct laser acceleration that drive the generation of super-hot electrons. We find that, in this regime, electrons that become super-hot are primarily injected by a looping mechanism that we call loop-injected direct acceleration.