Electron acceleration by a short laser beam in the presence of a long-wavelength electromagnetic wave

A scheme for laser-induced acceleration of an electron injected initially at an angle to the direction of a short-wavelength laser is investigated, where an additional long-wavelength electromagnetic wave is introduced to achieve high energy gain. Due to the beating effect of the electromagnetic waves, the electron can gain additional energy. Some computational results are presented to estimate the electron energy gain by the proposed scheme, where the gain increases by increasing the difference of the wavelengths. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.