Relativistic terahertz radiation generated by direct-laser-accelerated electrons from laser-foil interactions
Journal article, 2020

A scheme for generating powerful terahertz (THz) radiation based on laser-solid interactions is proposed. When a p-polarized femtosecond laser impinges obliquely on a plane solid target and the target partially blocks the laser energy, surface electrons are extracted to the vacuum and accelerated by the laser fields, forming a low-divergence electron beam. A half-cycle THz radiation pulse is emitted simultaneously as the beam passes by the edge of the target, due to a mechanism similar to coherent transition radiation. Our particle-in-cell simulations show that a relativistic THz pulse can be obtained with an energy of a few tens of millijoule and a conversion efficiency above 1%, with existing joule level femtosecond laser sources.

Author

Ke Hu

Chalmers, Physics, Subatomic, High Energy and Plasma Physics

Longqing Yi

Chalmers, Physics, Subatomic and Plasma Physics

Physical Review A

24699926 (ISSN) 24699934 (eISSN)

Vol. 102 2 023530

Running away and radiating (PLASMA)

European Commission (EC) (EC/H2020/647121), 2015-10-01 -- 2020-09-30.

Subject Categories

Accelerator Physics and Instrumentation

Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics

Other Physics Topics

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevA.102.023530

More information

Latest update

3/21/2023