2019/09/11 by Felix Mackenroth, Mackenroth, Felix, Amol R. Holkundkar +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Accelerator Physics (physics.acc-ph) #Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies #FOS: Physical sciences #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Optics (physics.optics) #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1909.05008
openalex publication_date 2019/09/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a new analytical solution for the equation of motion of\nrelativistic electrons in the focus of a high-intensity laser pulse. We\napproximate the electron's transverse dynamics in the averaged field of a long\nlaser pulse focused to a Gaussian transverse profile. The resultant\nponderomotive scattering is found to feature an upper boundary of the\nelectrons' scattering angles, depending on the laser parameters and the\nelectrons' initial state of motion. In particular, we demonstrate the angles\ninto which the electrons are scattered by the laser scale as a simple relation\nof their initial energy to the laser's amplitude. We find two regimes to be\ndistinguished in which either the laser's focusing or peak power are the main\ndrivers of ponderomotive scattering. Based on this result, we demonstrate how\nthe intensity of a laser pulse can be determined from a ring-shaped pattern in\nthe spatial distribution of a high-energy electron beam scattered from the\nlaser. We confirm our analysis by means of detailed relativistic test particle\nsimulations of the electrons' averaged ponderomotive dynamics in the full\nelectromagnetic fields of the focused laser pulse.\n