Abstract
A survey on the mechanisms of powerful terahertz (THz) radiation from laser
plasmas is presented. Firstly, an analytical model is described, showing that a
transverse net current formed in a plasma can be converted into THz radiations at
the plasma oscillation frequency. This theory is applied to explain THz generation
in a gas driven by two-color laser pulses. It is also applied to THz generation in a
tenuous plasma driven by a chirped laser pulse, a few-cycle laser pulse, a DC/AC
bias electric field. These are well verified by particle-in-cell simulations,
demonstrating that THz radiations produced in these approaches are nearly
single-cycles and linear polarized. In the chirped laser scheme and the few-cycle
laser scheme, THz radiations with the peak field strength of tens of MV/cm and the
peak power of gigawatt can be achieved with the incident laser intensity less than
10<sup>17</sup> W/cm<sup>2</sup>.
© 2011 Chinese Optics Letters
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