Conical Forward THz Emission from Femtosecond-Laser-Beam Filamentation in Air

Ciro d'Amico (1) , Aurélien Houard (1) , Michel A. Franco (1) , Bernard Prade (1) , André Mysyrowicz (1) , Arnaud Couairon (2) , Vladimir Tikhonchuk (3)

1 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
2 CPHT - Centre de Physique Théorique [Palaiseau]
3 CELIA - Centre d'Etudes Lasers Intenses et Applications

We attribute a strong forward directed THz emission from femtosecond laser filaments in air to a transition-Cherenkov emission from the plasma space charge moving behind the ionization front at light velocity. Distant targets can be easily irradiated by this new source of THz radiation.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Physics [physics]; Optics [physics.optics]

Ciro d'Amico, Aurélien Houard, Michel A. Franco, Bernard Prade, André Mysyrowicz, et al.. Conical Forward THz Emission from Femtosecond-Laser-Beam Filamentation in Air. Physical Review Letters, 2007, 98 (23), pp.235002. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.235002⟩. ⟨hal-00455111⟩