Electron dynamics in laser and quasi-static transverse electric and longitudinal magnetic fields

TL;DR

This paper derives Hamiltonian equations to analyze electron heating mechanisms in intense laser and static electromagnetic fields, revealing how maximum electron energies depend on combined field parameters and resonance conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a Hamiltonian framework for understanding electron dynamics and heating in combined laser and static fields, highlighting the role of resonance and stochastic processes.

Findings

Maximum electron energies exceed ponderomotive scaling.

Electron heating depends on resonance overlap and field parameters.

Stochastic heating occurs at high harmonic resonances.

Abstract

By deriving the 3/2 dimensional Hamiltonian equations for electrons in the intense laser radiation and quasi-static transverse electric and longitudinal magnetic fields, the electron heating mechanisms are examined both for low harmonic resonance of electron frequency in the static fields with the laser frequency and for high harmonic resonances where the overlapping of broadened resonances causes the stochastic heating. For both cases, the maximum electron kinetic energies, well beyond the ponderomotive scaling, depend only on a small parameter combining the laser amplitude, electrostatic field strength and the conserved dephasing rate.