O. B. Shiryaev

Dynamics of an electron driven by relativistically intense laser radiation

The dynamics of an electron driven by a relativistically intense laser pulse is analyzed on the basis of the equation of motion with the Lorentz force in the cases of linear and circular polarizations. Laser fields with nonplane phase fronts accelerate electrons in the longitudinal direction. An electron initially at rest is found not to move along figure-eight trajectories for the linear polarization, and not to move along circular trajectories for the circular polarization.

Electrodynamics of electron in a superintense laser field: New principles of diagnostics of relativistic laser intensity

The dynamics and energy spectra of electrons driven by a relativistically intense laser pulse are analyzed. The description is based on the numerical solution of the relativistic Newton’s equation with the Lorentz force generated by a strong focused optical field. After the interaction with it, electrons retain a considerable fraction of the energy of their oscillations during the interaction. The electron postinteraction energy spectrum is calculated. The energies in the spectrum high-energy tail are determined by the laser pulse intensity at the focal spot. An approach to estimating absolute values of the laser pulse intensity based on the measurement of the energy spectra of the electrons is proposed.

Acceleration of electrons to high energies in a standing wave generated by counterpropagating intense laser pulses with tilted amplitude fronts

The dynamics of an electron in a standing wave generated by two relativistically intense linearly polarized laser pulses with tilted amplitude fronts is studied. The analysis is based on solving numerically the relativistic Newton’s equation with the corresponding Lorentz force. A new scheme of laser acceleration of electrons by the direct action of the standing wave is proposed. It is shown that short bunches of electrons with energies reaching several GeV can be created for relativistic laser intensities.

Charged particle motion in the field of a short laser pulse of relativistic intensity

The electron motion in the field of the laser radiation of relativistic intensity was analyzed using the Lorentz force. In the laser pulse field, an initially rest electron does not move along trajectories such as “figure eight”. At relativisitic intensities, the electron oscillations in an optical field are significantly anharmonic.

Diagnostics of peak laser intensity based on the measurement of energy of electrons emitted from laser focal region

A new method to determine the peak intensity of focused relativistic laser pulses is experimentally justified. It is based on the measurement of spectra of electrons, accelerated in the beam waist. The detected electrons were emitted from the plasma, generated by nonlinear ionization of low-density gases (helium, argon, and krypton) in the focal area of a laser beam with the peak intensity >10 20 W/cm 2 . The measurements revealed generation of particles with the maximum energy of a few MeV, observed at a small angle relative to the beam axis. The results are supported by numerical particle-in-cell simulations of a laser–low-density plasma interaction. The peak intensity in the focal region derived from experimental data reaches the value of 2.5 × 10 20 W/cm 2 .

Regimes of the interactions of high-intensity plane electromagnetic waves with electron-ion plasmas

A set of fully nonlinear equations is derived from the Maxwell equations and the electron and ion fluid dynamics in one-dimensional geometry as a model of the interactions of extremely intense plane electromagnetic waves with cold locally non-neutral electron-ion plasmas. The problem is solved for phase velocities close to the speed of light numerically and with the help of asymptotic techniques. Depending on the field magnitudes, three nonlinear regimes are found to occur in the system. At plane-wave intensities inducing relativistic electron fluid dynamics but insufficient to cause significant ion motions, the model reverts to the classic Akhiezer–Polovin problem and yields its solutions describing the nonlinear self-modulation of the electromagnetic fields in plasmas. The types of regimes sustained at field strengths entailing substantial ion dynamics are the self-modulation with a splitting of the plane-wave field spectrum into a set of closely spaced bands, and the harmonics generation with a spectru...

Emission of zeptosecond electromagnetic pulses by an electron driven by a relativistically intense laser field

The radiation emitted by an electron driven by a relativistically intense laser field comprises a set of electromagnetic pulses with complicated spectral structure having durations much shorter than the optical cycle.

Electron acceleration in quasi-stationary electromagnetic fields during the self-channeling of intense light pulses

We theoretically investigate the possibility of electron acceleration during the self-channeled propagation of laser radiation. We consider a new acceleration mechanism associated with the formation of an ion cloud in material (under the ponderomotive force of the laser radiation) that moves together with the laser pulse. We show that the quasi-stationary electric and magnetic fields generated by the moving ion cloud can lead to the acceleration of electrons up to energies of several dozen MeV and to the formation of an electron beam propagating forward coaxially with the laser pulse. The calculated angular distribution of the accelerated electrons is in satisfactory agreement with published experimental results.

Angular scattering diagrams of linearly polarized relativistic-intensity electromagnetic radiation in a plasma

Instability of the propagation of nonlinear nonmonochromatic relativistic-intensity electromagnetic waves in a cold subcritical-density plasma is analyzed in three-dimensional geometry. Angular diagrams of their scattering are presented. The calculations show that forward and backward scattering may occur. The radiation in a specific direction is a set of harmonics, propagating against a continuum background, whose frequencies depend on the angle. Radiation at a specific frequency propagates in a set of scattering cones. The azimuthal cone angles depend on frequency.

Diagnostics of the peak laser intensity based on the measurement of energy spectra of electrons accelerated by the laser beam

A new method of the measurement of the maximal laser pulse intensity at the focal spot is suggested. The measurement of the energies of electrons ejected from the focal spot by laser radiation is used.