Acceleration of charged particles by the wake fields of a tailored train of relativistic electron bunches in a plasma

The excitation of wake fields and the acceleration of charged particles by a tailored train of relativistic electron bunches in a plasma are studied analytically and numerically. The transformer ratios are obtained. The role played by the leading bunch in achieving large transformer ratios is determined, and the parameters of this bunch are found. Results are presented from numerical simulations of the acceleration of relativistic electrons by the wake field of a tailored train of bunches.