In recent years, the technology of terahertz (THz) source has developed rapidly. Due to the advantages of long-distance generation and non-damage thresholds, THz wave generation from the air plasma excited by femtosecond laser attracted global attention. Since the first time the method was proposed, it has experienced many tremendous developments and leaps. In this letter, we propose a new method to generate THz wave with higher intensity. We demonstrate that the energy of THz wave can be effectively enhanced when the air plasma excited by a vortex beam. The energy of THz wave induced by two-color laser field generated through a 100-mm-thick BBO crystal is recorded by using a Golay detector. By comparing the intensity and spatial distribution of THz wave generated by different orders of vortex beams, we find that the energy of THz wave generated from low-order vortex beams is stronger than that from Gaussian beams with the invariant laser energy. To understand the effect of the vortex beam on the generation of THz wave, we compared the distribution of the focal plane between the Gaussian beam and the vortex beam. We believe this method can pave the way for finding the type of laser beam which can produce a stronger THz wave.
Terahertz wave generation from laser induced air plasma is widely used due to its high electric field and broad frequency bandwidth. For further understanding of the mechanism of the terahertz wave generation in laser-induced plasma as well as the terahertz modulator base on pre-formed air plasma, the generation of terahertz radiation using an effective wavelength scaling mechanism is examined when two-color laser fields are mixed in pre-formed plasma created by synchronized 800nm laser pulse. In our experiment, the effect of preformed plasma is investigated using an orthogonal pumping geometry. With a preformed plasma, both the modulation depth of terahertz radiation energy and the change of terahertz radiation polarization increases with increasing excitation laser wavelength. We found that the terahertz modulation depth and terahertz polarization changes increase as a function of the energy of the 800nm-prepulse. Some possible reasons are discussed. We attribute the terahertz polarization rotation to additional relative phase of the two-color fields introduced by the preformed air plasma. This provides a practical way to control the polarization and energy of terahertz pulses for potential applications.
Terahertz (THz) wave has attracted considerable attention in recent years because of its potential applications. The intense THz waves generated from air plasma induced by two-color femtosecond laser are widely used due to its high generation efficiency and broad frequency bandwidth. The parameters of the laser change the distribution of the air plasma, and then affect the generation of THz wave. In this research, we investigate the THz wave generation from air plasma induced by quasi-square Airy beam. Unlike the common Gauss beam, the quasi-square Airy beam has ability to autofocus and to increase the maximum intensity at the focus. By using the spatial light modulator (SLM), we can change the parameters of phase map to control the shape of the Airy beam. We obtain the two-color laser field by a 100-um-thick BBO crystal, then use a Golay detector to record THz wave energy. By comparing terahertz generation at different modulation depths, we find that terahertz energy produced by quasi-square Airy beam is up to 3.1 times stronger than that of Gauss beam with identical laser energy. In order to understand the influence of quasi-square Airy beam on the BBO crystal, we record THz wave energy by changing the azimuthal angle of BBO crystal with Gauss beam and Airy beam at different modulation depths. We find that the trend of terahertz energy with respect to the azimuthal angle of the BBO crystal keeps the same for different laser beams. We believe that the quasi-square Airy beam or other auto focusing beam can significantly improve the efficiency of terahertz wave generation and pave the way for its applications.
Terahertz(THz) wave modulator technology, due to its important value of imaging and detecting research. In the paper, we discuss the Polyethylene lens based the terahertz wave front modulation, which is benefit the terahertz wave image technology. Simulation results show that the optical system can extent the depth of imaging field of test objects based on continuous terahertz source. The way to get the image has significant meaning for detection and large image quality.
Terahertz (THz) wave generation from laser induced air plasma is widely used due to its high electric field and broad frequency bandwidth. The most popular and efficient laser-plasma scheme used for THz generation is the two-color scheme, in which a laser pulse at the fundamental frequency is supplemented by its second harmonic that is obtained with the use of a nonlinear crystal. The type-I β-barium borate (BBO) crystal plays a very important role in second harmonic generation. In this research, we investigate the THz generation efficiency with changing the thicknesses of the BBO crystals. Moreover, the wavelength of the excitation laser is tunable from 1200 nm to 1600 nm. The THz generation efficiency is characterized by rotating the BBO crystal with the same tilt angle, changing laser wavelength with invariant pump power. And we also record the two orthogonal components of THz electric field by rotating the ZnTe crystal. We think that the thickness of BBO crystal affects the phase difference between the two components along the ordinary axis and extraordinary axis, resulting in the change of the polarization state of the fundamental wave. Meanwhile, the frequency doubling efficiency of BBO has an impact on the power ratio of the two-color laser. This provides a practical way to control the polarization of THz pulses for potential applications.
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