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Updated: Aug 24, 2026

Investigation of Early Plasma Evolution Induced by Ultrashort Laser Pulses
Published on: July 2, 2012
Enhanced acceleration of injected electrons in a laser-beat-wave-induced plasma channel
S Ya Tochitsky1, R Narang, C V Filip
1Neptune Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
Abstract:
Enhanced energy gain of externally injected electrons by a approximately 3 cm long, high-gradient relativistic plasma wave (RPW) is demonstrated. Using a CO2 laser beat wave of duration longer than the ion motion time across the laser spot size, a laser self-guiding process is initiated in a plasma channel. Guiding compensates for ionization-induced defocusing (IID) creating a longer plasma, which extends the interaction length between electrons and the RPW. In contrast to a maximum energy gain of 10 MeV when IID is dominant, the electrons gain up to 38 MeV energy in a laser-beat-wave-induced plasma channel.
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