Confinement of electrons in the focus of the dipole wave

Based on the numerical modelling of the electron dynamics in the focal region of a dipole wave, we have found the confinement time of electrons in the region of the strongest electric field in a wide (up to 200 PW) power range. By comparing confinement times of particles and the spatial structures of their escape, we have determined the regimes of ponderomotive escape and radiationdominated escape corresponding to normal and anomalous radiative trapping, as well as the threshold powers of these regimes. It is shown that in the regimes of ponderomotive escape, the confinement time decreases with increasing power and stabilises at the level of one third of the wave period with the particles leaving the focal region predominantly across the electric field. In the radiation-dominated regime, the confinement time, on the contrary, increases with increasing power, the rate of transverse particles' escape decreases, and the particles leave the focal region in the form of compact beams.