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Terahertz emission from ultrafast ionizing air in symmetry-broken laser fields

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Abstract

A transient photocurrent model is developed to explain coherent terahertz emission from air irradiated by a symmetry-broken laser field composed of the fundamental and its second harmonic laser pulses. When the total laser field is asymmetric across individual optical cycles, a non-vanishing electron current surge can arise during optical field ionization of air, emitting a terahertz electromagnetic pulse. Terahertz power scalability is also investigated, and with optical pump energy of tens of millijoules per pulse, peak terahertz field strengths in excess of 150 kV/cm are routinely produced.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4577-4584
Number of pages8
JournalOptics Express
Volume15
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 16 2007

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