Abstract
We study the effect of laser-induced double-ionization of a helium gas (with inhomogeneous density profile) on vacuum electron acceleration. For enough laser intensity, helium gas can be found doubly ionized and it strengthens the divergence of the pulse. The double ionization of helium gas can defocus the laser pulse significantly, and electrons are accelerated by the front of the laser pulse in vacuum and then decelerated by the defocused trail part of the laser pulse. It is observed that the electrons experience a very low laser-intensity at the trailing part of the laser pulse. Hence, there is not much electron deceleration at the trailing part of the pulse. We found that the inhomogeneity of the neutral gas reduced the rate of tunnel ionization causing less defocusing of the laser pulse and thus the electron energy gain is reduced.
Highlights
Interest in laser-matter interactions has increased over the past few years due to the availability of ultrahigh power lasers [1]
We study the effect of laser-induced double-ionization of a helium gas on vacuum electron acceleration
We found that the inhomogeneity of the neutral gas reduced the rate of tunnel ionization causing less defocusing of the laser pulse and the electron energy gain is reduced
Summary
Interest in laser-matter interactions has increased over the past few years due to the availability of ultrahigh power lasers [1]. An electron is promoted into the continuum via tunnel ionization, which displaces an electron from the core using very little kinetic energy From this description of the interaction dynamics, it is clear that the ponderomotive energy, sometimes referred to as quiver energy, is an important quantity in strong-field physics [4]. Double ionization of the neutral gas can significantly defocus the laser pulse, and the electron accelerates by being pushed in front of the laser pulse in vacuum and gains energy, though it decelerates due to its interaction with the trailing part of the laser pulse. We subsequently formulate the problem in which the equations of laser defocusing have been obtained, where the inhomogeneous profile of the gas is considered
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