title: Acceleration of electrons from rest to GeV energies by ultrashort transverse magnetic laser pulses in free space.
abstract: In this paper we describe a laser acceleration scheme where an electron is accelerated from rest to GeV energies by the longitudinal electric field of an ultrashort transverse magnetic ( TM01 ) optical pulse. The on-axis longitudinal electric field of the pulse is obtained from the free-space divergence equation beyond the so-called slowly-varying-envelope approximation. The instantaneous electron dynamics is studied; numerical simulations predict net energy gains in the GeV range for laser intensities reaching 10(22) W/ cm(2) .
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Optique, Photonique et Laser, Université Laval, Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4. charles.varin@phy.ulaval.ca
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Varin
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piché
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Porras