An electron injection regime in laser wake-field acceleration, namely electron bow-wave injection, is investigated by two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation as well as analytical model. In this regime electrons in the intense electron bow wave behind the first bubble catch up with the bubble tail and are trapped by the bubble finally, resulting in considerable enhancement of the total trapped electron number. For example, with the increase of the laser intensity from 2 × 10${}^{19}$ to 1 × 10${}^{20}$ W/cm${}^2$, the electron trapping changes from normal self-injection to bow-wave injection and the trapped electron number is enhanced by two orders of magnitude. An analytical model is proposed to explain the numerical observation.

• Received 5 October 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.85.046403