High-power tunable laser driven THz generation in corrugated plasma waveguides
- Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
- Naval Research Lab., Washington, D.C. (United States)
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
Web of Science
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 |
Similar Records
Application of Plasma Waveguides to High Energy Accelerators
Optical-to-THz Wave Conversion via Excitation of Plasma Oscillations in the Tunneling-Ionization Process