Generating a tunable narrow electron beam comb via laser-driven plasma grating

Abstract

We propose a novel approach for generating a high-density, spatially periodic narrow electron beam comb (EBC) from a plasma grating induced by the interference of two intense laser pulses in subcritical-density plasma. We employ particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to investigate the effects of cross-propagating laser pulses with specific angles overlapping in a subcritical plasma. This overlap results in the formation of a transverse standing wave, leading to a spatially periodic high-density modulation known as a plasma grating. The electron density peak within the grating can reach several times the background plasma density. The charge imbalance between electrons and ions in the electron density peaks causes mutual repulsion among the electrons, resulting in Coulomb expansion and acceleration of the electrons. As a result, some electrons expand into vacuum, forming a periodic narrow EBC with an individual beam width in the nanoscale range. To further explore the formation of the nanoscale EBC, we conduct additional PIC simulations to study the dependence on various laser parameters. Overall, our proposed method offers a promising and controlled approach to generate tunable narrow EBCs with high density.