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Electron motion on the (sub-)femtosecond time scale constitutes the fastest response in many natural phenomena such as light-induced phase transitions and chemical reactions. Whereas static electron densities in single molecules can be…
Monte-Carlo computations for highly relativistic parallel shock particle acceleration are presented for upstream flow gamma factors, $\Gamma=(1-V_{1}^{2}/c^{2})^{-0.5}$ with values between 5 and $10^{3}$. The results show that the spectral…
Abridged. Kinetic plasma simulations are nowadays commonly used to study a wealth of non-linear behaviours and properties in laboratory and space plasmas. In particular, in high-energy physics and astrophysics, the plasma usually evolves in…
Radiative damping in plasma-based electron accelerators is analyzed. The electron dynamics under combined influence of the constant accelerating force and the classical radiation reaction force is studied. It is shown that electron…
In high-energy astrophysics, interpreting observed spectra hinges on understanding the competition between energy gains and radiative losses. To progress along these lines, we report on particle-in-cell simulations of particle acceleration…
The acceleration of charged particles at astrophysical collisionless shock waves is one of the best studied processes for the energization of particles to ultrarelativistic energies, required by multifrequency observations in a variety of…
We show that when a solid plasma foil with a density gradient on the front surface is irradiated by an intense laser pulse at a grazing angle, around 80 degrees, a relativistic electron vortex is excited in the near-critical-density layer…
Theoretical investigations are presented, and their results are discussed, of the laser acceleration of a single electron by a chirped pulse. Fields of the pulse are modeled by simple plane-wave oscillations and a $\cos^2$ envelope. The…
Magnetic reconnection is thought to be the driver for many explosive phenomena in the universe. The energy release and particle acceleration during reconnection have been proposed as a mechanism for producing high-energy emissions and…
In the extreme high intensity regime of electromagnetic (EM) waves in plasma, the acceleration process is found to be dominated by the ponderomotive acceleration (PA). While the wakefields driven by the ponderomotive force of the…
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…
Electron acceleration has been optimized based on 3D PIC simulations of a short laser pulse interacting with low-density plasma targets to find the pulse propagation regime that maximizes the charge of high-energy electron bunches. This…
Based on the concept of extended particles recently introduced we perform a Gedankenexperiment accelerating single electrons with photons of suitably low frequency. Accounting for relativistic time dilation due to the acquired velocity and…
Laser-plasma accelerators represent a promising technology for future compact accelerating systems, enabling the acceleration of tens of pC to above $1\,$GeV over just a few centimeters. Nonetheless, these devices currently lack the…
Strong magnetic fields and plasmas are intrinsically linked in both terrestrial laboratory experiments and in space phenomena. One of the most profound consequences of that is the change in relationship between the frequency and the wave…
Relativistic self-focusing and channeling of intense laser pulses have been studied in underdense plasma using 2D PIC simulations, for different laser powers and plasma densities. Analytical solutions for the stationary evacuated channels…
In space and astrophysical plasmas, like in planetary magnetospheres, as that of Mercury,energetic electrons are often found near current sheets (CSs), which hints at electron acceleration by magnetic reconnection. Unfortunately, electron…
The plasma dynamics resulting from the simultaneous impact, of two equal, ultra-intense laser pulses, in two spatially separated spots, onto a dense target is studied via particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The simulations show that…
The phenomenon of resonant energization of a relativistic quantum particle, moving in unison with an intense ElectroMagnetic Wave, is demonstrated in a semiclassical calculation. The wave nature of the quantum particle is of essence because…
Electron and proton acceleration in three-dimensional electric and magnetic fields is studied through test particle simulations. The fields are obtained by a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulation of magnetic reconnection in slab…