The generation of harmonics by short, intense laser pulses reflected from a solid-density plasma is investigated using particle-in-cell simulation. High irradiance, obliquely incident p-polarized light generates harmonics via relativistic electrons dragged across the vacuum-solid interface. This mechanism does not exhibit the limitation previously predicted for lower intensities of a maximum harmonic ``cutoff'' nₘₐₓ0ex0ex=0ex0exωₚ/ω₀. For Iλ²>10¹⁹Wcm^-2μm² and modest shelf densities Nₑ/Ncrit0ex0ex=0ex0ex10, at least 60 harmonics can be generated with power efficiencies Pₙ/P₁>10^-6, suggesting coherent MW x rays with λ~4nm could be generated with a KrF (248nm) pump.
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P. Gibbon (1996) studied this question.
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