Excitation of Electron Plasma Waves by Beating Two Self-Trapped Laser Beams

Abstract

This paper presents the detailed studies of the focusing of pump beams and the excited electron plasma waves(EPW) in a PBWA(Pasma—Beat—Wave—Accelerator) by beating two self-trapped laser beams. The equations governing the saturated amplitude of EPW in nonuniform pump beams have been derived analytically. With these the condition for self-trapping of pump beams has been studied self-consistently. The optimum frequency mismatch parameter and the corresponding optimum initial plasma density as well as the maximum amplitude of the EPW have been obtained analytically. The transverse distributions of the EPW for Gaussian pump profile have been calculated numerically and show peculiar characteristics for certain frequency mismatch parameters. In addition, the effect of the radial component of the EPW on the bunch of accelerated particles in PBWA has been briefly discussed.