Enhancing terahertz generation from a two-color plasma using optical parametric amplifier waste light
Abstract
We show experimentally that the terahertz (THz) emission of a plasma, generated in air by a two-color laser pulse (containing a near IR frequency and its second harmonic), can be enhanced by the addition of an 800-nm pulse. We observed enhancements of the THz electric field by a factor of up to 30. This provides a widely accessible means for researchers using optical parametric amplifiers (OPA) to increase their THz yields by simply adding the residual pump beam of the OPA to the plasma generating beam. We investigate the dependence of the THz electric field enhancement factor on the powers of the two-color beam as well as the 800-nm enhancement beam. Numerical calculations using the well-known photocurrent model are in excellent agreement with the experimental observations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1804.01178,
title = {Enhancing terahertz generation from a two-color plasma using optical parametric amplifier waste light},
author = {Shayne A. Sorenson and Clayton D. Moss and Steven K. Kauwe and Jacob D. Bagley and Jeremy A. Johnson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1804.01178},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
Added discussions of the physical reasons for enhancement and suppression to the main text and the supplemental materials. Further shortened the main text and removed the acronym from the title