Effects of initially energetic electrons on relativistic laser-driven electron plasma waves

In this paper, using kinetic calculations and accurate 1D2V particle-in-cell simulations, we point out the important role of initially energetic electrons of the distribution tail in the behavior of high amplitude electron plasma waves (EPWs). In the presence of these electrons, the conventional warm fluid theory (WFT) breaks at very high wave amplitudes that are still noticeably lower than the wave breaking amplitude (WBA). The fluid breakdown results in electron super-heating with respect to the adiabatic laws. Indeed, a new kinetic regime of the relativistic EPWs appears below the WBA. It is argued that the mentioned super-heating results in WBA values lower than the corresponding WFT prediction. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.