Laser-driven plasma beat-wave propagation in a density-modulated plasma.

A laser-driven plasma beat wave, propagating through a plasma with a periodic density modulation, can generate two sideband plasma waves. One sideband moves with a smaller phase velocity than the pump plasma wave and the other propagates with a larger phase velocity. The plasma beat wave with a smaller phase velocity can accelerate modest-energy electrons to gain substantial energy and the electrons are further accelerated by the main plasma wave. The large phase velocity plasma wave can accelerate these electrons to higher energies. As a result, the electrons can attain high energies during the acceleration by the plasma waves in the presence of a periodic density modulation. The analytical results are compared with particle-in-cell simulations and are found to be in reasonable agreement.