Related papers: Energy gain by laser-accelerated electrons in a st…
We consider the acceleration of electrons in vacuum by means of the circularly-polirized electromagnetic wave, propagating along a magnetic field. We show that the electron energy growth, when using ultra-short and ultra-intense laser…
A laser-driven azimuthal plasma magnetic field is known to facilitate electron energy gain from the irradiating laser pulse. The enhancement is due to changes in the orientation between the laser electric field and electron velocity caused…
We examine the impact of several factors on electron acceleration by a laser pulse and the resulting electron energy gain. Specifically, we consider the role played by: 1) static longitudinal electric field; 2) static transverse electric…
A high-intensity laser beam propagating through a dense plasma drives a strong current that robustly sustains a strong quasi-static Mega Tesla-level azimuthal magnetic field. The transverse laser field efficiently accelerates electrons in…
We examine a regime in which a linearly-polarized laser pulse with relativistic intensity irradiates a sub-critical plasma for much longer than the characteristic electron response time. A steady-state channel is formed in the plasma in…
The energy of the ions accelerated by an intense electromagnetic wave in the radiation pressure dominated regime can be greatly enhanced due to a transverse expansion of a thin target. The expansion decreases the number of accelerated ions…
We study the direct acceleration of a free electron in infinite vacuum along the axis of a pulsed radially-polarized laser beam. We find that net energy transfer from laser pulse to electron is maximized with the tightest focusing. We show…
We present an analytical theory that reveals the importance of the longitudinal laser electric field in the resonant acceleration of relativistic electrons by the tightly confined laser beam. It is shown that this field always counterworks…
A free electron can temporarily gain a very significant amount of energy if it is overrun by an intense electromagnetic wave. In principle, this process would permit large enhancements in the center-of-mass energy of electron-electron,…
In laser-solid interactions, electrons may be generated and subsequently accelerated to energies of the order-of-magnitude of the ponderomotive limit, with the underlying process dominated by direct laser acceleration. Breaking this limit,…
Direct laser acceleration has proven to be an efficient source of high-charge electron bunches and high brilliance X-rays. However, an analytical description of the acceleration in the interaction with varying plasma density targets is…
In addition to the ponderomotive acceleration of highly relativistic electrons at interaction of very short and very intense laser pulses, a further acceleration is derived from the interaction of these electron beams with the spontaneous…
Direct laser acceleration of electrons is an important energy deposition mechanism for laser-irradiated plasmas that is particularly effective at relativistic laser intensities in the presence of quasi-static laser-driven plasma electric…
The physics governing electron acceleration by a relativistically intense laser are not confined to the critical density surface, they also pervade the sub-critical plasma in front of the target. Here, particles can gain many times the…
A planar laser pulse propagating in vacuum can exhibit an extremely large ponderomotive force. This force, however, cannot impart net energy to an electron: As the pulse overtakes the electron, the initial impulse from its rising edge is…
An electron irradiated by a linearly polarized relativistic intensity laser pulse in a cylindrical plasma channel can gain significant energy from the pulse. The laser electric and magnetic fields drive electron oscillations in a plane…
It is shown that static longitudinal and transverse electric fields can significantly alter electron acceleration by a long laser beam in a sub-critical plasma, enabling generation of super-ponderomotive electrons. The role of the plasma…
Superponderomotive-energy electrons are observed experimentally from the interaction of an intense laser pulse with a relativistically transparent target. For a relativistically transparent target, kinetic modeling shows that the generation…
A new electron acceleration mechanism is identified that develops when a relativistically intense laser irradiates the wedge of an over-dense plasma. This induces a diffracted electromagnetic wave with a significant longitudinal electric…
We undertake an investigation of particle acceleration in the context of non-linear electrodynamics. We deduce the maximum energy that an electron can gain in a non-linear density wave in a magnetised plasma, and we show that an electron…