Relativistic ponderomtive force acceleration of electrons in weak inhomogenous underdense plasma

Abstract In the paper, relativistic ponderomotive force acceleration of electrons in weak inhomogenous underdense plasma is investigated. The results shown that, in interaction of ultraintense laser and the plasma, due to the influence of relativistic ponderomotive force, laser beam presents self-focusing, and electrons are accelerated obviously. Initially, electron energy presents a fluctuation variation along the propagation distance, then the fluctuation will weaken gradually, finally it trend to a steady state and the electrons acquire a high net energy. Compared with homogeneous plasma, electron energy would increase and its vibration length becomes short in weak inhomogeneous underdense plasma. Moreover, the high-energy electrons can be easily extracted by the relativistic ponderomotive force, the results may offer some useful theoretical proof for the design of new accelerators.