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Trapping, Compression and Acceleration of an Electron Bunch in the Nonlinear Laser Wakefield

Arsen G. Khachatryan
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Abstract

A scheme of laser wakefield acceleration, when a relatively rare and long bunch of non-relativistic or weakly-relativistic electrons is initially in front of the laser pulse, is suggested and considered. The motion of test electrons is studied both in the one-dimensional case (1D wakefield) and in the three-dimensional laser wakefield excited in a plasma channel. It is shown that the bunch is trapped, effectively compressed both in longitudinal and transverse directions and accelerated to ultra-relativistic energies in the region of first accelerating maximum of the wakefield. The accelerated bunch has sizes much less than the plasma wavelength and relatively small energy spread.

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Arsen G. Khachatryan. 2001-10-09. Trapping, Compression and Acceleration of an Electron Bunch in the Nonlinear Laser Wakefield. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.65.046504

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