Abstract
The field at the focus of a short-pulse, high-power laser is so high that electrons oscillate at nearly the speed of light, giving rise to several interesting, and previously unstudied, effects. For instance, it produces extremely high laser pressure (called the ponderomotive force), which can drive a high-amplitude plasma “wake-field plasma wave,” the basis for what is called the laser wake-field accelerator (LWFA). Essentially, the laser pulse pushes the electrons out of its way, but the ions—because of their much heavier mass—pull them back, setting up a plasma wave oscillation.
© 1996 Optical Society of America
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