Generation of scalable terahertz radiation from cylindrically focused two-color laser pulses in air
Abstract
We demonstrate scalable terahertz (THz) generation by focusing terawatt, two-color laser pulses in air with a cylindrical lens. This focusing geometry creates a two-dimensional air plasma sheet, which yields two diverging THz lobe profiles in the far field. This setup can avoid plasma-induced laser defocusing and subsequent THz saturation, previously observed with spherical lens focusing of high-power laser pulses. By expanding the plasma source into a two-dimensional sheet, cylindrical focusing can lead to scalable THz generation. This scheme provides an energy conversion efficiency of 7 × 10−4, ∼7 times better than spherical lens focusing. The diverging THz lobes are refocused with a combination of cylindrical and parabolic mirrors to produce strong THz fields (>21 MV/cm) at the focal point.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 21, 2016
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.4944843
Entities
People
- D. Kuk
- E. W. Rosenthal
- H. M. Milchberg
- K. Y. Kim
- N. Jhajj
- Y. J. Yoo
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Department of Energy
- University of Maryland