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Towards Terawatt-Scale Spectrally Tunable Terahertz Pulses via Relativistic Laser-Foil Interactions

Guo-Qian Liao1,2, Hao Liu1,3, Graeme G. Scott2, Yi-Hang Zhang1,7, Bao-Jun Zhu1,7, Zhe Zhang1, Yu-Tong Li1,7,10,11,*, Chris Armstrong4,2, Egle Zemaityte4,2 et al.

Philip Bradford5, Dean R. Rusby2, David Neely2,4,†, Peter G. Huggard6, Paul McKenna4, Ceri M. Brenner2, Nigel C. Woolsey5, Wei-Min Wang12,1,8, Zheng-Ming Sheng3,4,8,9, and Jie Zhang1,3,8,‡

  • 1Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • 2Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
  • 3Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (Ministry of Education), School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
  • 4Department of Physics SUPA, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG, United Kingdom
  • 5Department of Physics, York Plasma Institute, University of York, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom
  • 6RAL Space, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
  • 7School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • 8Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA (CICIFSA), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
  • 9Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai 200240, China
  • 10Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, Guangdong 523808, China
  • 11CAS Center for Excellence in Ultra-intense Laser Science, Shanghai 201800, China
  • 12Department of Physics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China

  • *ytli@iphy.ac.cn
  • †david.neely@stfc.ac.uk
  • ‡jzhang1@sjtu.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. X 10, 031062 – Published 18 September, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.10.031062

Abstract

An ever-increasing number of strong-field applications, such as ultrafast coherent control over matter and light, require driver light pulses that are both high power and spectrally tunable. The realization of such a source in the terahertz (THz) band has long been a formidable challenge. Here, we demonstrate, via experiment and theory, efficient production of terawatt (TW)-level THz pulses from high-intensity picosecond laser irradiation on a metal foil. It is shown that the THz spectrum can be manipulated effectively by tuning the laser pulse duration or target size. A general analytical framework for THz generation is developed, involving both the high-current electron emission and a time-varying electron sheath at the target rear, and the spectral tunability is found to stem from the change of the dominant THz generation mechanism. In addition to being an ultrabright source (brightness temperature of about 1021  K) for extreme THz science, the THz radiation presented here also enables a unique in situ laser-plasma diagnostic. Employing the THz radiation to quantify the escaping electrons and the transient sheath shows good agreement with experimental measurements.

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Popular Summary

Tunable high-power light sources are highly desired for exploring the unknown and revolutionizing technologies as near-infrared and x-ray lasers have demonstrated in recent decades. However, the realization of such a source at the long-wavelength terahertz (THz) band—located between the microwave and far-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum—has long been a formidable challenge. Here, we realize a spectrally tunable broadband THz source delivering peak power of about 1012  W, more than 100 times as high as state-of-the-art accelerator- and crystal-based sources.

In our experiments, we focus a high-intensity picosecond laser pulse onto a metal foil and observe a high-brightness THz burst at the foil’s rear side. Further modeling and experiments allow us to clarify the physical scenarios for this THz generation: The laser pulse accelerates a large number of energetic electrons, some of which escape from the foil target while the rest are trapped around the target surface, accelerating ions. All of these processes can induce strong broadband THz radiation but with distinctly different spectra. This enables us to manipulate the global THz spectra by controlling the relative contributions of various radiation mechanisms, which we confirm experimentally by varying the laser pulse duration and target size. The tunable THz spectra also reflect some dynamical change in laser-plasma interactions.

The unprecedented THz source demonstrated in our work opens up a new avenue towards emerging extreme THz science, likely enabling a new paradigm of relativistic optics that is currently accessible only at infrared wavelengths. The THz radiation also offers a novel versatile laser-plasma diagnostic.

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Phys. Rev. X 10, 031062– Published 18 September, 2020
  • Received 17 July 2019
  • Revised 4 June 2020
  • Accepted 24 July 2020
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