Terahertz-pulse generation by photo-ionization of gases under high pressure

Author

Loffler, T. ; Roskos, Hartmut G.

Author_Institution

Phys. Inst., Johann Wolfgang Goethe Univ., Frankfurt, Germany

fYear

2001

fDate

11-11 May 2001

Firstpage

438

Lastpage

439

Abstract

Summary form only given. Far-infrared (terahertz) pulses can be generated by photoionization of electrically biased gases with amplified laser pulses. We demonstrate experimentally that the efficiency of this generation process can be significantly increased, when the absolute gas pressure is raised up to 46 bar. The stronger THz output is a result of the extremely high bias fields of up to 200 kV/cm which can be applied under these conditions. The laser pulses are supplied by a CLARK CPA 2001 laser system. They are focused into the gap between two electrodes within a pressure chamber. The THz radiation is detected by an electro-optic detection scheme using a 1-mm ZnTe crystal.

Keywords

high-pressure effects; optical pulse generation; photoionisation; plasma production by laser; 1 mm; 390 muJ; 46 bar; CLARK CPA 2001 laser system; THz output; ZnTe; ZnTe crystal; absolute gas pressure; amplified laser pulses; electrically biased gases; electro-optic detection scheme; far-infrared pulses; gases; high bias fields; high pressure; photoionization; pressure chamber; terahertz pulses; terahertz-pulse generation; Electrodes; Gas lasers; Gases; Ionization; Lasers and electrooptics; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulses; Pulse amplifiers; Radiation detectors; Zinc compounds;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2001. CLEO '01. Technical Digest. Summaries of papers presented at the Conference on

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD, USA

Print_ISBN

1-55752-662-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEO.2001.948015

Filename

948015