Title :
Theory of relativistic harmonic generation
Author :
Q-Han Park ; Boyd, R.W. ; Sipe, J.E. ; Gaeta, A.L.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Phys., Kyung Hee Univ., Seoul, South Korea
Abstract :
Summary form only given. In this paper, we show that the argument about vanishing THG breaks down under relativistic conditions. We consider the motion of a free electron in an intense laser field of wavelength /spl lambda/. For field strengths of the order of mc/sup 2///spl lambda/e, which for /spl lambda/=1 /spl mu/m corresponds to an intensity of the order of 2/spl times/10/sup 17/ W/cm/sup 2/, the electron is accelerated to relativistic velocities in a single optical period, and thus the excursion of the electron from its equilibrium position occurs over a distance of the order of /spl lambda/. Under such conditions, the radiation emitted by the electron cannot be described within the electric dipole approximation, and in fact cannot be well described by a multipole expansion for a finite number of terms. We instead calculate the intensity of the emitted radiation through the use of the Lenard-Wiechert potentials.
Keywords :
electrodynamics; optical harmonic generation; optical phase matching; relativistic electron beams; 1 micron; Lenard-Wiechert potentials; SHG emission efficiency; circularly polarized case; emitted radiation intensity; free electron motion; intense laser field; linearly polarized case; phase matching; relativistic harmonic generation; relativistic velocities; second-harmonic generation; Frequency conversion; Gas lasers; Image converters; Laser beams; Laser modes; Nonlinear optics; Optical harmonic generation; Optical pulse compression; Performance analysis; Pulse generation;
Conference_Titel :
Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference, 2001. QELS '01. Technical Digest. Summaries of Papers Presented at the
Conference_Location :
Baltimore, MD, USA
Print_ISBN :
1-55752-663-X
DOI :
10.1109/QELS.2001.962241