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The combination of cold and hot components in the energy spectra of electrons scattered by relativistically intense laser pulses with various transverse distributions of amplitude

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2016

O.B. Shiryaev
O.B. Shiryaev*
Affiliation:
Department of Coherent and Nonlinear Optics, General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Science, 38 Vavilov Street, Box 117942, Moscow, Russia Medicobiologic Faculty, N.I. Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, 1 Ostrovitianov Street, Box 117997, Moscow, Russia
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: O.B. Shiryaev, Department of Coherent and Nonlinear Optics, General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Science, 38 Vavilov Street, Box 117942, Moscow, Russia. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The energy spectra of a sparse ensemble of electrons scattered by relativistically intense laser pulses are studied numerically by solving the relativistic Newton equations with the Lorentz force generated by an electromagnetic envelope in vacuum. The expressions for the envelope describe focused optical fields, include significant short-pulse corrections, and afford the representation of laser radiation with various types of transverse distributions of amplitude. The dependence of the character of the electron energy spectra on the type of the transverse distribution of laser amplitude is explored. For Gaussian pulses, the electron energy spectra within specific angular ranges tend to either include a relativistic maximum while being localized around it or to have the shapes of evanescent distributions dominated by the cold component. Conversely, the energy spectra of electrons ejected into certain angular ranges by laser pulses having first-order Laguerre profiles combine pronounced cold components and structured strongly relativistic features. The presumed laser pulse transverse structure and the shapes of the calculated electron energy spectra for first-order Laguerre amplitude distributions are shown to match, qualitatively, those reported in a recent experimental study by Kalashnikov et al. in 2015, which revealed the electron energy spectra spanning both the sub-relativistic and the markedly relativistic energy domains.

Keywords

Electron accelerationElectron energy spectraRelativistic intensity
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , March 2017 , pp. 64 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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