Relativistic electron acceleration in focused laser fields after above-threshold ionization

Relativistic ponderomotive force in the regime of extreme focusing

When charged particles interact with laser fields, they are usually thought to be pushed out from the regions of higher laser intensity via the mechanism known as the ponderomotive force (PMF). In contrast to the existing theories, we show that there exist several regimes in which charged particles are drawn into the regions of strongly focused laser fields. We derive a simple, covariant, and relativistically correct expression for the ponderomotive laser force that holds for arbitrary strength of field focusing and for all particle velocities. We predict three new, to the best of our knowledge, physical effects: (1) focusing-dependent reversal of PMF, (2) non-relativistic reversal of PMF, and (3) non-reciprocity of PMF for weakly relativistic particle velocities.

Relativistic Electrons from Vacuum Laser Acceleration Using Tightly Focused Radially Polarized Beams

We generate a tabletop pulsed relativistic electron beam at 100 Hz repetition rate from vacuum laser acceleration by tightly focusing a radially polarized beam into a low-density gas. We demonstrate that strong longitudinal electric fields at the focus can accelerate electrons up to 1.43 MeV by using only 98 GW of peak laser power. The electron energy is measured as a function of laser intensity and gas species, revealing a strong dependence on the atomic ionization dynamics. These experimental results are supported by numerical simulations of particle dynamics in a tightly focused configuration that take ionization into consideration. For the range of intensities considered, it is demonstrated that atoms with higher atomic numbers like krypton can favorably inject electrons at the peak of the laser field, resulting in higher energies and an efficient acceleration mechanism that reaches a significant fraction (≈14%) of the theoretical energy gain limit.

Direct acceleration of collimated monoenergetic sub-femtosecond electron bunches driven by a radially polarized laser pulse

High-quality ultrashort electron beams have diverse applications in a variety of areas, such as 4D electron diffraction and microscopy, relativistic electron mirrors and ultrashort radiation sources. Direct laser acceleration (DLA) mechanism can produce electron beams with a large amount of charge (several to hundreds of nC), but the generated electron beams usually have large divergence and wide energy spread. Here, we propose a novel DLA scheme to generate high-quality ultrashort electron beams by irradiating a radially polarized laser pulse on a nanofiber. Since electrons are continuously squeezed transversely by the inward radial electric field force, the divergence angle gradually decreases as electrons transport stably with the laser pulse. The well-collimated electron bunches are effectively accelerated by the circularly-symmetric longitudinal electric field and the relative energy spread also gradually decreases. It is demonstrated by three-dimensional (3D) simulations that collimated monoenergetic electron bunches with 0.75° center divergence angle and 14% energy spread can be generated. An analytical model of electron acceleration is presented which interprets well by the 3D simulation results.

Amplification of Relativistic Electron Bunches by Acceleration in Laser Fields

Direct acceleration of electrons in a coherent, intense light field is revealed by a remarkable increase of the electron number in the MeV energy range. Laser irradiation of thin polymer foils with a peak intensity of ∼1×10^{20}  W/cm^{2} releases electron bunches along the laser propagation direction that are postaccelerated in the partly transmitted laser field. They are decoupled from the laser field at high kinetic energies, when a second foil target at an appropriate distance prevents their subsequent deceleration in the declining laser field. The scheme is established with laser pulses of high temporal contrast (10^{10} peak to background ratio) and two ultrathin polymer foils at a distance of 500  μm. 2D particle in cell simulations and an analytical model confirm a significant change of the electron spectral distribution due to the double foil setup, which leads to an amplification of about 3 times of the electron number around a peak at 1 MeV electron energy. The result verifies a theoretical concept of direct electron bunch acceleration in a laser field that is scalable to extreme acceleration potential gradients. This method can be used to enhance the density and energy spread of electron bunches injected into postaccelerator stages of laser driven radiation sources.

Ponderomotive acceleration of hot electrons in tenuous plasmas

The oscillation-center Hamiltonian is derived for a relativistic electron injected with an arbitrary momentum in a linearly polarized laser pulse propagating in tenuous plasma, assuming that the pulse length is smaller than the plasma wavelength. For hot electrons generated by collisions with ions under an intense laser drive, multiple regimes of ponderomotive acceleration are identified, and the laser dispersion is shown to affect the process at plasma densities down to 10(17) cm-3. We consider the regime when the cold plasma is not accelerated, requiring a/gammag<<1, where a is the laser parameter, proportional to the field amplitude, and gammag is the group-velocity Lorentz factor. In this case, the Lorentz factor gamma of hot electrons does not exceed Gamma [triple bond] alpha gammag after acceleration, assuming its initial value also satisfies gamma0 <or=Gamma. Yet gamma approximately Gamma is attained within a wide range of initial conditions; hence, a cutoff in the hot-electron distribution is predicted.

Positive and negative effective mass of classical particles in oscillatory and static fields

A classical particle oscillating in an arbitrary high-frequency or static field effectively exhibits a modified rest mass m(eff) derived from the particle averaged Lagrangian. Relativistic ponderomotive and diamagnetic forces, as well as magnetic drifts, are obtained from the m(eff) dependence on the guiding center location and velocity. The effective mass is not necessarily positive and can result in backward acceleration when an additional perturbation force is applied. As an example, adiabatic dynamics with m||>0 and m||<0 is demonstrated for a wave-driven particle along a dc magnetic field, m|| being the effective longitudinal mass derived from m(eff). Multiple energy states are realized in this case, yielding up to three branches of m|| for a given magnetic moment and parallel velocity.