Ultra-intense laser interaction with nanostructured near-critical plasmas.

Near-critical plasmas irradiated at ultra-high laser intensities (I > 10W/cm) allow to improve the performances of laser-driven particle and radiation sources and to explore scenarios of great astrophysical interest. Near-critical plasmas with controlled properties can be obtained with nanostructured low-density materials. By means of 3D Particle-In-Cell simulations, we investigate how realistic nanostructures influence the interaction of an ultra-intense laser with a plasma having a near-critical average electron density.