US 4,570,103 AGranted

Particle beam accelerators

OwnerNeil C. Schoeninventor

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Abstract

A technique for accelerating charged particles using an intense traveling electromagnetic wave such as produced by appropriate wavelength lasers. Low energy electrons injected into the focal region of an intense, polarized laser beam are rapidly accelerated in the direction of the beam by the ponderomotive force of the radiation field. The particles reach maximum energy in a distance comparable to the Rayleigh range of a tightly focussed, visible wavelength, diffraction limited pulsed laser. At this point, a combination of induced transverse velocity drifts and/or the rapidly decreasing electric field strengths due to the expanding laser beam envelope cause the particles to enter a low radiation field region before significant deceleration can occur. The resulting device possesses unique advantages and properties not present in existing accelerators.

Claims9

Dependent claims

An apparatus for the acceleration of charged particles comprising a source radiation beam of intense coherent polarized traveling electromagnetic waves, means bringing said radiation beams or waves to a near-diffraction limited focal region, with said near-diffraction limited focal region created by an optical or quasi-optical radiation resonator operating in a TEM mode, whereupon a charged particle stream or streams caused to be present at said focal region is accelerated to high energies by the electric field vector of said traveling wave, which is transverse to the direction of propagation of said radiation beam, thereby causing said charged particles to achieve significant transverse velocity, causing them to then interact with the magnetic field vector of said radiation beam via a v.times.B ponderomotive force, thereby deflecting said charged particles in the direction of said propagating radiation beam and causing the transverse velocity vectors of said charged particles to remain in near synchronism with the electric field vector of said traveling wave and thereby continue to gain energy until said charged particles leave said high field focal region.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.