Electron acceleration in a laser‐irradiated plasma*

Abstract

Net inverse bremsstrahlung was previously found to give rise to a very large net dc force acting on relativistic electrons by a laser light in a longitudinal electrostatic plasma field. The predicted incident energy dependence of electron acceleration by co‐propagating laser waves and the weaker longitudinal electrostatic waves is in qualitative agreement with the preliminary results of a recent Canadian INRS‐Energie laser‐plasma electron acceleration experiment. The experimental results are not explained by acceleration mechanisms requiring phase matching such as that in the beat wave acceleration models.