  We present a theoretical investigation of the excitation of multiple
electrostatic wakefields by the ponderomotive force of a short electromagnetic
pulse propagating through a dense plasma. It is found that the inclusion of the
quantum statistical pressure and quantum electron tunneling effects can
qualitatively change the classical behavior of the wakefield. In addition to
the well known plasma oscillation wakefield, with a wavelength of the order of
the electron skin depth, which in a dense plasma is of the order of several
nanometers, wakefields in dense plasmas with a shorter wavelength are also
excited. The wakefields can trap electrons and accelerate them to extremely
high energies over nanoscales.
