Laser induced electron acceleration in the presence of static electric and magnetic fields in a plasma

Abstract

Results of a fully relativistic three-dimensional (3-D) single particle code, supported by a theoretical model, on direct laser acceleration of electrons in radial electric and azimuthal magnetic static fields are presented. The ponderomotive force and the longitudinal components of the laser field are taken into account in the code. The electron motion in the static fields is similar to the motion in a magnetic wiggler. At resonance, when the bounce frequency of the wiggling motion is within a few percent of the Doppler shifted laser frequency, the amplitude of transverse oscillation shows a rapid increase accompanied by a fast rise in energy and parallel momentum. For this situation, a theoretical model of energy exchange between the electrons and the laser provides reasonable estimate of energy gain. The single particle code is used in Monte Carlo simulations to study the energy distribution and angular spread of the accelerated electrons in a self-focused high intensity laser pulse interaction.