  Superponderomotive-energy electrons are observed experimentally from the
interaction of an intense laser pulse with a relativistically transparent
target. For a relativistically transparent target, kinetic modeling shows that
the generation of energetic electrons is dominated by energy transfer within
the main, classically overdense, plasma volume. The laser pulse produces a
narrowing, funnel-like channel inside the plasma volume that generates a field
structure responsible for the electron heating. The field structure combines a
slowly evolving azimuthal magnetic field, generated by a strong laser-driven
longitudinal electron current, and, unexpectedly, a strong propagating
longitudinal electric field, generated by reflections off the walls of the
funnel-like channel. The magnetic field assists electron heating by the
transverse electric field of the laser pulse through deflections, whereas the
longitudinal electric field directly accelerates the electrons in the forward
direction. The longitudinal electric field produced by reflections is 30 times
stronger than that in the incoming laser beam and the resulting direct laser
acceleration contributes roughly one third of the energy transferred by the
transverse electric field of the laser pulse to electrons of the
super-ponderomotive tail.
