THz pulses at mJ level from organic crystal pumped by a Cr:Mg2SiO4 laser

Single-cycle Terahertz transients at high fields are a powerful tool to explore fundamental properties of condensed matter and ultimately to initiate coherently collective processes by nonionizing light [1]. While intense pulses at mid-infrared frequencies between 20-100 THz (15 μm-3 μm) have been demonstrated [2], the production of high-energy single-cycle pulses with fields of several MV/cm in the Terahertz gap (3000 μm-30 μm) remained a challenge. We present a table-top source based on organic crystal [3-5] emitting single-cycle transients at frequencies of 0.1-5 THz with electric and magnetic fields at the focus larger than 40 MV/cm and 14 Tesla. The source is realized by optical rectification in recently developed 4 cm² partitioned DSTMS [6] pumped by 30 mJ Cr:Mg₂SiO₄ (Cr:F) laser, for details see [7]. With respect to optical parametric amplifier used in the past to drive the organic crystal, the Cr:F laser offers one order larger energy and which turns into THz pulse energy as large as 900 μJ and energy conversion efficiency of 3 %.