Abstract

Strict single-body dynamics theory and numerical experiments on particle acceleration by a laser with a class of spatially variant state of polarization are presented. Because such a class of spatially variant state of polarization also corresponds to a spatially variant, over wavelength-level space scale intensity profile, it can cause the electronic response to the driving field to be dependent on its initial transverse position. A suitable value of the initial transverse position can correspond to a suitable phase delay between the electronic transverse oscillating velocity $\upsilon$ and the driving electric field $E$, which leads to $-e{\int }_0^{t}E·\upsilon \mathrm{d}{t}^{\prime }>0$, and hence implies an aperiodic time growth rate of the electronic kinetic energy. Under the same value of laser power, the electronic energy gain can be several orders of magnitude higher than that in the case of a spatially homogeneous state of polarization. This suggests that choosing a suitable state of polarization is an efficient way of achieving a compact high-efficiency accelerator.

© 2019 Optical Society of America

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