A high-power laser pulse guided through a relativistically underdense plasma channel generates a strong quasistatic magnetic field, confining the transverse motion of electrons inside the channel. This confinement allows the laser field to efficiently accelerate electrons transversely which are then deflected in forward direction and collimated by the channel's magnetic field, establishing the novel forward-sliding swing acceleration (FSSA) mechanism. Its advantage is a threshold behaviour, yielding high electron energies for sufficiently strong laser fields or initial electron momenta, regardless of a fine-tuned resonance. The achievable electron energies are demonstrated to be two orders of magnitude higher than the vacuum limit of direct laser acceleration. We study the electrons' dynamics by a simplified model analytically and confirm this model's predictions by numerical simulations. Specifically, we derive and confirm simple relations between the channel's magnetic field strength, the particles' initial transverse momenta and the laser's field strength indicating in what parameter regimes high electron energies can be achieved.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.