Particle-in-cell simulations of high energy electron production by intense laser pulses in underdense plasmas

Susumu Kato (1) , Eisuke Miura (1) , Mitsumori Tanimoto (2) , Masahiro Adachi (3) , Kazuyoshi Koyama (1)

1 AIST - National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
2 Department of Electrical Engineering
3 Graduate school of Advanced Science of Matter

The propagation of intense laser pulses and the generation of high energy electrons from the underdense plasmas are investigated using two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. When the ratio of the laser power and a critical power of relativistic self-focusing is the optimal value, it propagates stably and electrons have maximum energies.

Mots clés: electron acceleration; intense laser propagation; relativistic self-focusing; particle-in-cell simulation

Domaines: Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]

Susumu Kato, Eisuke Miura, Mitsumori Tanimoto, Masahiro Adachi, Kazuyoshi Koyama. Particle-in-cell simulations of high energy electron production by intense laser pulses in underdense plasmas. 2004. ⟨hal-00001969v2⟩