HEATING AND ACCELERATION OF ELECTRONS BY SEVERAL PLANE TRANSVERSE ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES

The dynamics of electrons in the field of several plane transverse electromagnetic waves is considered. It is shown that the fields of such waves can effectively (resonantly) transfer energy to particles in almost any interval of the momentum space. This possibility opens new possibilities for particle acceleration, as well as for plasma heating, especially for the effective heating of the ion component of the plasma. The latter possibility is determined by the fact that in the field of several waves, modes with dynamic chaos are easily realized, especially in the area where Langmuir ion-acoustic waves are easily excited. These waves quickly and effectively transfer their energy to ions.