Simple laser accelerator: Optics and particle dynamics

When a laser is focused it develops a longitudinal component. This could be used to develop a laser particle accelerator. A lens waveguide array is discussed, and it is shown that such a system could generate high-energy particle beams. The possibility of using a ``diffraction-free'' Bessel beam is discussed, and a possible configuration is suggested. To accelerate electrons from one to a few MeV seems possible using a well-focused, 1-J, 1-ps laser pulse. This would provide a simple proof-of-principle experiment. In order to accelerate heavier particles, such as protons, the injected particle beam would have to be ultrarelativistic such as that produced by the superconducting supercollider.