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

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.