Acceleration of electrons by the interaction of a bunched electron beam with a plasma.

A new scheme for accelerating electrons, employing a bunched relativistic electron beam in a cold plasma, is analyzed. We show that energy gradients can exceed 1 GeV/m and that the driven electrons can be accelerated from remc2 to 37emc2 before the driving beam slows down enough to degrade the plasma wave. If the driving electrons are removed before they cause the collapse of the plasma wave, energies up to 4$mc2 are possible. A non-collinear injection scheme is suggested in order that the driving electrons can be removed.