Abstract

When used with femtosecond optical pulses, electrooptic materials have important applications for the generation¹ and detection^1,2 of subpicosecond electromagnetic transients. For example, pulses as short as one cycle of far-IR radiation in the 1-THz range have recently been produced by the rectification of femtosecond visible pulses using the electrooptic Cherenkov effect¹ in lithium tantalate. The spectral content of these pulses extends as high as 4 THz and approaches the transverse optic lattice resonance at 6 THz.

© 1985 Optical Society of America