  We report on the first absorption experiments of sub-10 fs high-contrast
Ti:Sa laser pulses incident on solid targets. The very good contrast of the
laser pulse assures the formation of a very small pre-plasma and the pulse
interacts with the matter close to solid density. Experimental results indicate
that p-polarized laser pulses are absorbed up to 80 percent at 80 degrees
incidence angle. The simulation results of PSC PIC code clearly confirm the
observations and show that the collisionless absorption works efficiently in
steep density profiles.
