Electron acceleration in ambient air using tightly focused ultrashort infrared laser beams

Recent experimental and theoretical results have demonstrated the possibility of accelerating electrons in the MeV range by focusing tightly a few-cycle laser beam in ambient air [S. Vallières et al., High dose-rate MeV electron beam from a tightly-focused femtosecond IR laser in ambient air, Laser Photonics Rev. 18, 2300078 (2024)1863-888010.1002/lpor.202300078]. Using Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations, this configuration is revisited within a more accurate modeling approach to analyze and optimize the mechanism responsible for electron acceleration. In particular, an analytical model for a linearly polarized tightly focused ultrashort laser field is derived and coupled to a PIC code, allowing us to model the interaction of laser beams reflected by high-numerical aperture mirrors with laser-induced plasmas. A set of 3D PIC simulations is performed where the laser wavelength is varied from 800 nm to 7.0µm while the normalized amplitude of the electric field is varied from a_{0}=3.6 to a_{0}=7.0. The preferential forward acceleration of electrons, as well as the analysis of the laser intensity evolution in the plasma and data on electron number density, confirm that the relativistic ponderomotive force is responsible for the acceleration. We also demonstrate that the electron kinetic energy reaches a maximum of ≈1.6 MeV when the central wavelength is of 2.5µm.