Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2026

Investigation of Early Plasma Evolution Induced by Ultrashort Laser Pulses
Published on: July 2, 2012
Beat-wave excitation of plasma waves based on relativistic bistability
1Department of Physics and Institute for Fusion Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Abstract:
A nonlinear beat-wave regime of plasma wave excitation is considered. Two beat-wave drivers are considered: intensity-modulated laser pulse and density-modulated (microbunched) electron beam. It is shown that a long beat-wave pulse can excite strong plasma waves in its wake even when the beat-wave frequency is detuned from the electron plasma frequency. The wake is caused by the dynamic bistability of the nonlinear plasma wave if the beat-wave amplitude exceeds the analytically calculated threshold. In the context of a microbunched beam driven plasma wakefield accelerator, this excitation regime can be applied to developing a femtosecond electron injector.
Related Concept Videos
Interference and Diffraction
The de Broglie Wavelength
Reflection of Waves
Standing Waves
Standing Electromagnetic Waves
Suppose a sheet of a perfect conductor is placed in the yz-plane, and a linearly polarized electromagnetic wave traveling in the...
Standing Waves in a Cavity

