A. Gopal,
S. Herzer,
A. Schmidt,
P. Singh,
A. Reinhard,
W. Ziegler,
D. Brömmel,
A. Karmakar,
P. Gibbon,
U. Dillner,
T. May,
H.-G. Meyer,
and G.G. Paulus
Observation of Gigawatt-Class THz Pulses from a Compact Laser-Driven Particle Accelerator
Phys. Rev. Lett., 111 :074802 (August 2013)
Observation of Gigawatt-Class THz Pulses from a Compact Laser-Driven Particle Accelerator
Phys. Rev. Lett., 111 :074802 (August 2013)
Abstract:
We report the observation of subpicosecond terahertz (T-ray) pulses with energies ≥ 460 μJ from a laser-driven ion accelerator, thus rendering the peak power of the source higher even than that of state-of-the-art synchrotrons. Experiments were performed with intense laser pulses (up to 5 × 10^19 W/cm^2) to irradiate thin metal foil targets. Ion spectra measured simultaneously showed a square law dependence of the T-ray yield on particle number. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show the presence of transient currents at the target rear surface which could be responsible for the strong T-ray emission.