Laser Accelerators

Laser accel erators may be conveniently characterized, by their mode of operation, into media, far-field, and near-field accelerators. The first category -- media accelerators -- include the Inverse Cherenkov Effect Accelerator, the Plasma Focus Accelerator, and the Beat Wave Accelerator (BWA). The second category -- far-field accelerators -- include the Two-Wave Device and the Inverse Free Electron Accelerator (IFEL). The third category -- near-field accelerators -- includes conventional linacs scaled to small dimensions, dielectric sheets, small holes in dielectric cylinders, and gratings. Attention i s devoted to an example from each category; namely (1) the BWA, (2) the IFEL, and (3) the linac scaled to small dimensions (about 30 GHz) and powered by a free electron laser (FEL). Finally, special attention is given to grating accelerators.