High-energy electron beam generation by a laser pulse propagating in a plasma

The previous study [1] showed that background plasma electrons would be trapped and accelerated to a relativistic high energy when a high-energy electron beam passes through a plasma with a sharp downward density transition. A similar trapping effect is expected if an intense laser beam is used instead of an electron beam. Although there are some subtle differences between the two cases, particle-in-cell simulations show that plasma electrons can be trapped and accelerated to a relativistic high energy with a laser pulse. In this paper, detailed 2-dimensional simulation results and the planned experiment at KERI (Korea Electrotechnology Research institute) are presented.