The longitudinal acceleration of electrons by the transverse electromagnetic field of laser pulses of definite shapes is studied. It is shown that already a pulse of the length of a half wavelength from a CO2 laser is sufficient to accelerate an electron to energies up to the order of TeV if intensities of 1022 W/cm2 are applied. Various aspects of the electron acceleration by this method are discussed.
AbstractSurface plasmon enhanced electron acceleration is a recently discovered efficient particle acceleration phenomenon in the nanoscale-confined field of surface electromagnetic waves. For the generation and spatial/spectral control of keV-energy electrons generated, this way few-cycle laser pulses can be utilized particularly well. We present numerical results based on a simple model of this phenomenon analogous to the three-step model of high harmonic generation. We identify those parameter regimes where the emitted electron beam is highly directional and monoenergetic opening the door to novel ultrafast applications and methods.
Tilted Snowplow Ponderomotive Electron Acceleration With Spatio-Temporally Shaped Ultrafast Laser Pulses
