Acceleration of injected electrons in a laser beatwave experiment

A 10-ps beam of 12 MeV electrons was loaded in a 1-cm long plasma beat wave accelerator driven by a TW CO/sub 2/ laser pulse. CO/sub 2/ laser pulses and electron bunches were deterministically synchronized with an uncertainty of 20 ps. At the resonant electron plasma density of /spl sim/10/sup 16/ cm/sup -3/ the electrons have been accelerated to 22 MeV with a gradient of /spl sim/ 1 GeV/m.