A detailed analytical study of plasma wakefield generation in a wide parabolic plasma channel is reported. A perturbative technique involving orders of the incident laser beam and the effects of inhomogeneity of the plasma density is used to obtain explicit electric as well as magnetic wakefields. The axial and transverse forces acting on a test electron due to the wakefields have been evaluated.

• Received 29 November 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.8.071301

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