THE THEORY OF LASER SELF-RESONANT WAKE-FIELD EXCITATION

The three-dimensional evolution of a short laser pulse is considered. The linear stability analysis that takes account of the scattered ligh t convection and predicts a development of pulse modulation at the ele ctron plasma frequency, is carried out. lt is demonstrated that a lase r pulse with a power above or close to the critical, which is required to provide a pulse relativistic self-focusing, undergoes compression and self-modulation in the course of self-consistent pulse evolution a nd, as a result, resonant excitation of an extremely strong plasma wav e occurs. lt is shown that for a properly taken initial pulse and plas ma parameters it is possible to obtain a wake field of an extremely hi gh intensity for a fairly long time to provide a new promising outlook for the laser accelerator concept. The influence of plasma inhomogene ity and pulse initial focusing on the considered self-resonant plasma wave excitation is studied.