Collisionless absorption in sharp-edged plasmas.

The absorption of subpicosecond, obliquely incident laser light is studied using a 11/2D particle-in-cell code. Density scale lengths from {ital L}/{lambda}=0.01 to 2 and laser irradiances between {ital I}{lambda}{sup 2}=10{sup 14} and 10{sup 18} W cm{sup {minus}2} {mu}m{sup 2} are considered. Vacuum heating'' (F. Brunel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 52 (1987)) dominates over resonance absorption for scale lengths {ital L}/{lambda}{lt}0.1, and is most efficient when {ital v}{sub osc}/{ital c}{congruent}3.1({ital L}/{lambda}){sup 2}. Absorbed energy is carried mainly by a superhot'' electron population with {ital U}{sub hot}{similar to}({ital I}{lambda}{sup 2}){sup 1/3--1/2}.