A new phenomenon of an enhanced relativistic transparency of overdense plasmas by the influence of hot-electron refluxing has been discovered via particle-in-cell simulations. When a p-polarized laser pulse, with intensity below the self-induced-transparency (SIT) threshold, obliquely irradiates a thin overdense plasma, the initially opaque plasma becomes transparent after a time interval that is linearly dependent on the thickness of the plasma. This phenomenon can be interpreted as a consequence of hot-electron refluxing, which reduces the effective electron density by longitudinal heating. When the laser intensity is higher than the SIT threshold, the penetration velocity of the laser in the plasma is enhanced when the refluxing is present.

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