Generation of a beam of fast electrons by tightly focusing a radially polarized ultrashort laser pulse.

The generation of an electron beam through longitudinal field acceleration from a tightly focused radially polarized (TM01) laser mode is reported. The longitudinal field is generated by focusing a TM01 few-cycle laser pulse (1.8 μm, 550 μJ, 15 fs) with a high numerical aperture parabola. The created longitudinal field in the focal region is intense enough to ionize atoms and accelerate electrons to 23 keV of energy from a low density oxygen gas. The characteristics of the electron beam are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]