Relativistic reversal of the ponderomotive force in a standing laser wave

collinear configuration, in which the laser wave is linearly polarized with electric field E parallel to the initial electron momentum p 0, is the optimal configuration for the relativistic reversal. In that case, the transverse PF reverses its direction when the incident momentum is p0=mc. The reversal effect vanishes in the cases of circular and linear with E p 0 polarizations. We have discovered, however, that the counter-rotating circularly polarized standing waves develop attraction and repulsion areas along the axis of laser, in the laser field whose intensity is homogeneous in that axis, i.e., has no field gradient.