Donut wakefields generated by intense laser pulses with orbital angular momentum

We study the wakefields produced in a plasma by intense laser pulses carrying a finite amount of orbital angular momentum. We show that these wakefields have new donut-like shapes, different from those usually considered in the literature, and could be used to accelerate hollow electron beams. Wakefields with a more general angular structure were also considered. The analytical solutions are corroborated by relativistic particle-in-cell simulations using OSIRIS. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.