OPTICAL-FIELD IONIZATION EFFECTS ON THE GENERATION OF WAKEFIELDS WITHSHORT-PULSE LASERS

In recent experiments involving high intensity short pulse lasers, lar ge wakefields have been observed to occur even when the pulse is much longer than the length necessary to generate wakefields. It was observ ed in the experiments that the plasma wave starts near the position of the ionization front, The whole process of wake amplification from op tical field ionization to Raman scattering is investigated by using a one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation code which includes the ef fect of optical held ionization. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All ri ghts reserved.