Direct electron acceleration by stochastic laser fields in the presence of self-generated magnetic fields

Abstract

A simple direct acceleration model is proposed, taking into account the stochastic phase disturbance of the coherent driving laser fields. A relativistic single particle simulation shows that plasma electrons are efficiently accelerated far above the ponderomotive energy. The energy and momentum distributions of the accelerated electrons are derived to examine the effects of the self-generated magnetic field on the characteristics of the electron beams. In addition to the beam collimation effect, the magnetic field is found to further enhance the electron acceleration, resulting in the generation of ultrahigh energy electrons.