Abstract
Broadband Terahertz (THz) sources have important applications in molecular physics, chemistry, material sciences and security. Lying at the boundary between electronics and optics, the THz frequency range, sometimes referred to as THz gap, is not easy to access and fields emitted in this band need to be strong enough to serve in current applications. Innovative setups recently proposed to use the electron plasma resulting from the ionization of gases by femtosecond laser pulses, which provide higher breakdown thresholds, broader spectral ranges and better tunability in the THz and mid-infrared ranges [1]. With two-color laser pulses, THz field amplitudes approaching the GV/m level and energies of a few µJ can be obtained through local photocurrents. Along this process, free electrons, extracted from atoms in sharp attosecond-long steps by tunnel ionization, are accelerated in the laser field and create a net macroscopic current that contains low frequency components and is responsible for the observed THz emission.
© 2015 IEEE
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