Electron acceleration based on a laser pulse propagating through a plasma in the simultaneous presence of a helical wiggler and an obliquely applied external magnetic field

Abstract

Electron acceleration based on a laser pulse propagating through plasma channel has been studied in the simultaneous presence of a helical magnetic wiggler and an obliquely applied external magnetic field. A numerical study of electron energy and electron trajectory has been made using the fourth-order Runge-kutta method. Numerical results indicate that electron energy increases with decreasing \( \theta\) -angle of the obliquely external magnetic field. Besides, it increases with increasing the amplitude of the obliquely magnetic field. It is also found that the electron attains a higher energy at shorter distances for higher amplitude of the wiggler field \( \Omega_{w}\) . Therefore, employing a magnetic wiggler field is very beneficial for electron acceleration in short distances. Further new results reveal that in the absence of the wiggler field \( (\Omega_{w}=0)\) , the electron energy increases with increasing the laser intensity, whereas in the presence of the wiggler field \( (\Omega_{w}\neq0)\) , the electron energy increases with decreasing the laser intensity. As a result, employing a wiggler magnetic field in the laser-based electron accelerators can be worthwhile in the design of table top accelerators and it can enhance the electron energy at lower laser intensities.