Abstract
Extraordinarily high fields generated by focused lasers are envisioned to accelerate particles to high energies. In this paper, we develop a new method to calculate laser acceleration in vacuum based on the energy exchange arising from the interference of the laser field with the radiation field of the particle. We apply this method to a simple accelerating structure, a perfectly conducting screen with a round hole, and show how to optimize the energy gain with respect to the hole radius, laser angle, and spot size, as well as the transverse profile of the laser. Limitations and energy scaling of this acceleration method are also discussed.
Highlights
Acceleration of charged particles by laser fields in vacuum can be calculated as Uacc e Z E vdt; (1)where Uacc is the energy gain, e is the charge, E is the electric field, v is the particle’s velocity, and the time integral is taken along the particle’s path
The acceleration occurs because currents and charges induced by the laser field in the material distort the incident electromagnetic field in a way which gives a nonzero value for the integral
In the limit when the hole radius a tends to zero, we show that our result agrees with direct calculation of the integral (1)
Summary
Acceleration of charged particles by laser fields in vacuum can be calculated as. where Uacc is the energy gain, e is the charge, E is the electric field, v is the particle’s velocity, and the time integral is taken along the particle’s path. A direct calculation of the integral in Eq (1) requires solving Maxwell’s equations in the vicinity of the material boundaries. In most cases, this leads to a formidable electromagnetic problem and requires extensive numerical computations. In this paper we develop a new method to calculate the energy gain Uacc It is based on the energy balance equation for the electromagnetic field energy and the particle’s energy, and only requires knowledge of the radiation field in the far zone. Taking into account the effect of a damage threshold for materials, we show how our calculations allow optimization of the energy gain for given laser parameters and find the limits of this acceleration method
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