Ponderomotive forces and potentials in two species relativistic plasmas

The ponderomotive force associated with a light wave of variable amplitude drives many phenomena that occur in inertial confinement fusion and particle acceleration experiments. The existing formula for the ponderomotive force was derived under the assumption that the quiver speed of electrons oscillating in the applied electric field is much less than the speed of light. With the advent of intense laser pulses, it is important to extend this formula to electron quiver speeds that are comparable to the speed of light. We investigate the interactions of light fields with particles in two species plasmas. The equation of motion of a charged particle in an electromagnetic field and the motion of a single particle in a plane wave is investigated. Furthermore, non relativistic and relativistic ponderomotive force and potential is obtained.