Abstract

The generation of large-amplitude, relativistic plasma waves is a subject of much current interest because of its potential use for ultrahigh gradient electron acceleration [2-5]. While conventional rf-driven accelerators are limited to fields ≤ 1 MV/cm, plasma accelerators have been shown experimentally to support gradients ~ 10 MV/cm [5]. The maximum axial electric field of a relativistic plasma wave, as predicted by ID cold fluid theory, is the “wave-breaking” field [6], $E_{WB}=\left(m_{e}c{\omega }_p/e\right)\sqrt{2\left({\gamma }_p-1\right)}$, which can exceed 1 GV/cm, where ${\omega }_p={\left(4\pi e^2{n}_{e0}/m_e\right)}^{1/2}$ is the electron plasma frequency, n_e0 is the ambient electron density, ${\gamma }_p={\left(1-v_p^2/c^2\right)}^{-1/2}$, and v_p is the phase velocity.

© 1994 Optical Society of America