Particle-in-cell simulations on nonlinear amplification inverse Bremsstrahlung electron acceleration

An electromagnetic particle simulation code is used to study an acceleration mechanism. The results show that the particle average energy normalized to mc2, γ, can be made much larger by applying, at optimally determined positions, an array of electrostatic field, Eapp, with interchanging signs than by applying E app constant. These results also show that γ is larger when the particles are launched as a bunch of particles with the same velocity than they are launched uniformly distributed the wavelength, λ. (author). 5 refs, 4 figs