Terahertz Radiation Source in Air Based on Bifilamentation of Femtosecond Laser Pulses

Yi Liu (1) , Aurélien Houard (1) , Selcuk Akturk (1) , André Mysyrowicz (1) , Vladimir Tikhonchuk (2)

1 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
2 CELIA - Centre d'Etudes Lasers Intenses et Applications

A new terahertz (THz) source in air based on the bifilamentation of femtosecond laser pulses is reported. This THz radiation is 1 order of magnitude more intense than the transition-Cherenkov THz emission from femtosecond laser filaments reported recently and shows different angular and polarization properties. We attribute it to the emission from a bimodal transmission line created by two plasma filaments.

Keywords: filamentation; terahertz; nonlinear optics

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

Yi Liu, Aurélien Houard, Selcuk Akturk, André Mysyrowicz, Vladimir Tikhonchuk. Terahertz Radiation Source in Air Based on Bifilamentation of Femtosecond Laser Pulses. Physical Review Letters, 2007, 99 (13), pp.135002. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.135002⟩. ⟨hal-00455116⟩