Super — Strong Focusing of an Intense Relativistic Electron Beam by an Annular Laser Beam

Abstract

It is shown that by the nonlinear transverse radiation pressure within a plasma of a pulsed convergent annular high power laser beam it is possible to focus an intense relativistic electron beam down to a radius of ~ 10⁻⁴ cm. The transverse radiation pressure results from the dielectric property of a plasma in conjunction with the phenomena of the self-focusing of intense laser light. The tightly focused electron beams make possible the release of thermonuclear energy by micro-explosions. The components for such a system consisting of a ~ 10⁴ Joule IR laser and a ~ 10⁶ Ampere relativistic electron beams are already available.