Combined Effect of Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Laser Pulse on Electron Acceleration in Relativistic Plasma

This article presents the spatial and temporal dynamics of high-power Gaussian laser pulse in relativistic plasma. At higher intensities, the self-focusing and self-compression of laser pulse take place due to the variation in the mass of plasma electrons moving with speed comparable to the speed of light. The two non-linear coupled differential equations for spatial and temporal pulsewidth parameters have been obtained using the moment theory approach. These equations have been solved numerically using the Runga–Kutta method. The variation in the spatial and temporal pulsewidth parameters with the distance of propagation is then used to calculate the energy gained by the electrons, which are trapped by the excited electron plasma wave during laser–plasma interaction. It is observed that spatio-temporal dynamics play an important role in electron acceleration in relativistic plasma.