Resonant Excitation of Surface Plasmon for Wakefield Acceleration by Beating GW Lasers on Smooth Cylindrical Surface

TL;DR

This paper explores a novel method for exciting surface plasmons on cylindrical surfaces using beating laser pulses, enabling efficient wakefield acceleration with low-power lasers.

Contribution

It provides analytical and numerical analysis of resonant surface plasmon excitation on cylindrical interfaces, revealing curvature effects that enable resonance matching with low-power lasers.

Findings

Curvature modifies surface plasmon dispersion and resonance conditions.

Resonant excitation can be achieved with gigawatt laser power levels.

Potential for portable laser-driven plasma accelerators.

Abstract

We present a theoretical and numerical study of resonant surface-plasmon (SP) excitation driven by the beating of two co-propagating laser pulses on a smooth cylindrical plasma-vacuum interface. Analytical expressions for the SP dispersion relation, field amplitude, geometric coupling factor, and resonance conditions are derived and validated by fully three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We reveal that curvature-induced geometric effects can substantially modify the SP dispersion and enable resonant matching by laser beat waves. This is inaccessible in planar geometries or with a single laser. Under matched resonance conditions, a high-amplitude SP-based wakefield can be generated by a few gigawatt lasers, placing this mechanism within reach of state-of-the-art fibre lasers. It therefore opens a route toward portable laser-driven plasma wakefield accelerators.