Beatwave Excitation of Plasma Waves Based on Relativistic Bi-Stability

A nonlinear beatwave regime of plasma wave excitation is considered. Two beatwave drivers are considered: intensity-modulated laser pulse and density-modulated (microbunched) electron beam. It is shown that a long beatwave pulse can excite strong plasma waves in its wake even when the beatwave frequency is detuned from the electron plasma frequency. The wake is caused by the dynamic bi-stability of the nonlinear plasma wave if the beatwave amplitude exceeds the analytically calculated threshold. In the context of a microbunched beam driven plasma wakefield accelerator, this excitation regime can be applied to developing a femtosecond electron injector.