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Title: High-power tunable laser driven THz generation in corrugated plasma waveguides

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4981218· OSTI ID:1543832

The excitation of Terahertz (THz) radiation by the interaction of an ultrashort laser pulse with the modes of a miniature corrugated plasma waveguide is considered. Here, the axially corrugated waveguide supports the electromagnetic modes with appropriate polarization and subluminal phase velocities that can be phase matched to the ponderomotive potential associated with the laser pulse, making significant THz generation possible. This process is studied via full format Particle-in-Cell simulations that, for the first time, model the nonlinear dynamics of the plasma and the self-consistent evolution of the laser pulse in the case where the laser pulse energy is entirely depleted. It is found that the generated THz is characterized by lateral emission from the channel, with a spectrum that may be narrow or broad depending on the laser intensity. A range of realistic laser pulse and plasma parameters is considered with the goal of maximizing the conversion efficiency of optical energy to THz radiation. As an example, a fixed drive pulse (0.55 J) with a spot size of 15 μm and a duration of 15 fs produces a THz radiation of 37.8 mJ of in a 1.5 cm corrugated plasma waveguide with an on axis average density of 1.4 × 1018 cm–3.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0010741
OSTI ID:
1543832
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1361831
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 4; ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 22 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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  • Miao, Chenlong; Palastro, John P.; Pearson, Andrew J.
  • ADVANCED ACCELERATOR CONCEPTS 2016: 16th Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4965666
conference January 2016
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Cited By (5)

Enhanced THz radiation generation by photo-mixing of tophat lasers in rippled density plasma with a planar magnetostatic wiggler and s-parameter journal February 2018
Flying focus: Spatial and temporal control of intensity for laser-based applications journal March 2019
Coherent terahertz emission from a plasma layer due to linear conversion of laser wakefields on pre-modulated ion density journal October 2019
Enhanced THz radiation from beating of two Cosh–Gaussian laser beams in a wiggler-assisted collisional magnetized plasma journal January 2018
Ionization waves of arbitrary velocity driven by a flying focus text January 2017

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