Gas breakdown limit and maximum acceleration gradient for inverse Cherenkov laser accelerator

Laser intensity thresholds for CO2 laser-induced gas breakdown, such as tunneling, multiphoton, and cascade ionization have been estimated for the inverse Cherenkov accelerator experiment at the Brookhaven Accelerator Test Facility. The gas breakdown is dominated by cascade ionization and the maximum acceleration gradient is up to 300 MeV/m for a 3 ps CO2 laser.