Acceleration and compression of charged particle bunches using counterpropagating laser beams

The nonlinear interaction between counterpropagating laser beams in a plasm a results in the generation of large (enhanced) plasma wakes. The two beams need to be slightly detuned in frequency, and one of them has to be ultras hort (shorter than a plasma period), Thus produced wakes have a phase veloc ity close to the speed of light and can be used for acceleration and compre ssion of charged bunches, The physical mechanism responsible for the enhanc ed wake generation is qualitatively described and compared with the convent ional laser wakefield mechanism. We also demonstrate that depending on the sign of the frequency difference between the lasers, the enhanced wake can be used as a "snow-plow" to accelerate and compress either positively or ne gatively charged bunches. This ability can be used in an electron-positron injector.