Direct laser acceleration of electrons in the plasma bubble by tightly focused laser pulses
Abstract
We present an analytical theory that reveals the importance of the longitudinal laser electric field in the course of the resonant acceleration of relativistic electrons by a tightly confined laser beam. It is shown that this laser field component always counteracts the transverse one and effectively decreases the final energy gain of electrons via the direct laser acceleration (DLA) mechanism. This effect is demonstrated by carrying out particle-in-cell simulations of the DLA of the electrons injected into the accelerating phase of the plasma wake. It is shown that the electron energy gain from the wakefield is substantially compensated by the quasiresonant energy loss to the longitudinal laser field component. The analytically obtained scalings and estimates are in good agreement with the results of the numerical simulations.
- Authors:
-
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
- Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1613227
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1547135
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0019431
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physics of Plasmas
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 26; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; Physics
Citation Formats
Wang, Tianhong, Khudik, Vladimir, Arefiev, Alexey, and Shvets, Gennady. Direct laser acceleration of electrons in the plasma bubble by tightly focused laser pulses. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.5110407.
Wang, Tianhong, Khudik, Vladimir, Arefiev, Alexey, & Shvets, Gennady. Direct laser acceleration of electrons in the plasma bubble by tightly focused laser pulses. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5110407
Wang, Tianhong, Khudik, Vladimir, Arefiev, Alexey, and Shvets, Gennady. Tue .
"Direct laser acceleration of electrons in the plasma bubble by tightly focused laser pulses". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5110407. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1613227.
@article{osti_1613227,
title = {Direct laser acceleration of electrons in the plasma bubble by tightly focused laser pulses},
author = {Wang, Tianhong and Khudik, Vladimir and Arefiev, Alexey and Shvets, Gennady},
abstractNote = {We present an analytical theory that reveals the importance of the longitudinal laser electric field in the course of the resonant acceleration of relativistic electrons by a tightly confined laser beam. It is shown that this laser field component always counteracts the transverse one and effectively decreases the final energy gain of electrons via the direct laser acceleration (DLA) mechanism. This effect is demonstrated by carrying out particle-in-cell simulations of the DLA of the electrons injected into the accelerating phase of the plasma wake. It is shown that the electron energy gain from the wakefield is substantially compensated by the quasiresonant energy loss to the longitudinal laser field component. The analytically obtained scalings and estimates are in good agreement with the results of the numerical simulations.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5110407},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 8,
volume = 26,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {8}
}
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:

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Figures / Tables found in this record: