Related papers: Enhanced energy gain through higher-order resonanc…
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…
Direct laser acceleration (DLA) enables energy transfer from an ultra-high-intensity laser to plasma electrons and underpins many laser-driven particle and radiation-source concepts. A laser-driven azimuthal plasma magnetic field is a key…
A long laser beam propagating through an underdense plasma produces a positively charged ion channel by expelling plasma electrons in the transverse direction. We consider the dynamics of a test electron in a resulting two-dimensional…
The manuscript deals with electron acceleration by a laser pulse in a plasma with a static uniform magnetic field $B_*$. The laser pulse propagates perpendicular to the magnetic field lines with the polarization chosen such that…
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 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…
Relativistic laser pulses can accelerate electrons up to energies of several GeV during the interaction with gaseous targets through the direct laser acceleration (DLA) mechanism. While the electrons are accelerated to high energies, they…
Relativistic electrons colliding with intense counterpropagating laser pulses are expected to lose energy through radiation reaction. However, we reveal a counterintuitive regime where reflected leptons (including incident electrons,…
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…
Resonant electron-positron pair production by a high-energy gamma quantum in the field of a nucleus and a quasi-monochromatic laser wave was theoretically studied. Under the resonant condition an intermediate virtual electron (positron) in…
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…
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…
Betatron x-ray sources from laser-plasma accelerators combine compactness, high peak brightness, femtosecond pulse duration and broadband spectrum. However, when produced with Terawatt class lasers, their energy was so far restricted to a…
We present an experimental demonstration of high conversion efficiency Betatron x-ray radiation from petawatt laser irradiated near critical plasmas. Direct laser acceleration serves as the dominant regime when laser pulse of ~5e20 W/cm2…
We have investigated the role that the transverse electric field of the laser plays in the acceleration of electrons in a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) operating in the quasi-blowout regime through particle-in-cell code simulations. In…
We predict that electrons in an ion channel can gain ultra-relativistic energies by simultaneously interacting with a laser pulse and, counter-intuitively, with a decelerating electric field. The crucial role of the decelerating field is to…
The concept of a hybrid laser wakefield/direct laser plasma accelerator is proposed. Relativistic electrons undergoing resonant betatron oscillations inside the plasma bubble created by a laser pulse are accelerated by gaining energy…
The interaction of dense plasmas with an intense laser under a strong external magnetic field has been investigated. When the cyclotron frequency for the ambient magnetic field is higher than the laser frequency, the laser's electromagnetic…
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…
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…