Abstract

The interaction of relativistic electron beams with superintense interference laser fields is investigated. We discuss the new methods of charged-particle motion control based on the application of the ponderomotive forces. The ponderomotive forces act on the charged particles in inhomogeneous fields and under certain conditions could result in channeling, collimation, or bunching of the particles. The channeled-particle response to a pulse of monochromatic light has a number of new distinctive characteristics in comparison with the case of a free particle. This enables us to propose the new methods of generation, amplification, and nonlinear transformation of superintense laser pulses. Here we describe parametric resonance, harmonic generation, and Stokes-frequency generation.

© 1991 Optical Society of America