ELECTRON ACCELERATION FROM THE BREAKING OF RELATIVISTIC PLASMA-WAVES
ELECTRON ACCELERATION FROM THE BREAKING OF RELATIVISTIC PLASMA-WAVES
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DOI：
10.1038/377606a0
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发表时间：
1995-10-19
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
WALSH, FN
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
MODENA, A;NAJMUDIN, Z;WALSH, FN
等离子体中的电子在等离子体频率附近经历集体波状振荡，这些等离子体波可以具有一定范围的波长，因此具有一定范围的相速度（1）。特别值得注意的是相对论等离子体波（2，3），其相速度接近光速;与这种波相关的纵向电场可以非常大，并且可以用于在非常短的距离内将电子（外部注入或由等离子体提供）加速到高能量（2-4）。以这种方式可以获得的最大电场以及因此最大加速率由等离子体（5-8）可以支持的振荡的最大幅度确定。当达到这个极限时，等离子体波就被称为“中断”。在这里，我们报告的相对论性等离子体波驱动到破点的拉曼前向散射不稳定性（9，10）短，高强度激光脉冲引起的观察。破波的开始是由加速等离子体电子的数量和最大能量（高达44 MeV）的突然增加，以及从等离子体波散射的激光的相干性的损失。
ELECTRONS in a plasma undergo collective wave-like oscillations near the plasma frequency, These plasma waves can have a range of wavelengths and hence a range of phase velocities(1). Of particular note are relativistic plasma waves(2,3), for which the phase velocity approaches the speed of light; the longitudinal electric field associated with such waves can be extremely large, and can be used to accelerate electrons (either injected externally or supplied by the plasma) to high energies over very short distances(2-4). The maximum electric field, and hence maximum acceleration rate, that can be obtained in this way is determined by the maximum amplitude of oscillation that can be supported by the plasma(5-8). When this limit is reached, the plasma wave is said to 'break'. Here we report observations of relativistic plasma waves driven to breaking point by the Raman forward-scattering instability(9,10) induced by short, high-intensity laser pulses, The onset of wave-breaking is indicated by a sudden increase in both the number and maximum energy (up to 44 MeV) of accelerated plasma electrons, as well as by the loss of coherence of laser light scattered from the plasma wave.