Abstract: Interaction of a laser field with a plasma wave is studied by metric optics. Analysis shows that the frequency upshifting of the laser pulse results from the plasma density gradient. A laser beam can be thought of as a packet of photons moving in a plasma and thus the laser frequency upshifting is equivalent to photon acceleration. Examination of the three-dimensional motion equations shows that a laser beam diffraction occurs in the presence of a radial variation of the plasma density. It is argued that the focusing mechanism originating from the plasma wave can curb laser diffraction so that photons may be trapped in the plasma wave and accelerated continuously.

Key words: photon acceleration, frequency upshifting, plasma wave, optical metric