Absorption-reduced waveguide structure for efficient terahertz generation

An absorption-reduced planar waveguide structure is proposed for increasing the efficiency of terahertz (THz) pulse generation by optical rectification of femtosecond laser pulses with tiltedpulse- front in highly nonlinear materials with large absorption coefficient. The structure functions as waveguide both for the optical pump and the generated THz radiation. Most of the THz power propagates inside the cladding with low THz absorption, thereby reducing losses and leading to the enhancement of the THz generation efficiency by up to more than one order of magnitude, as compared with a bulk medium. Such a source can be suitable for highly efficient THz pulse generation pumped by low-energy (nJ-lJ) pulses at high (MHz) repetition rates delivered by compact fiber lasers

Periodically intensity-modulated pulses by optical parametric amplification for multicycle tunable terahertz pulse generation

The superposition of signal and idler pulses in dual- chirped optical parametric amplification is proposed for the efficient generation of intensity-modulated pulses with periodic modulation. Both the duration and the modulation period are easily and independently adjustable. Numerical simulations for a three-stage optical parametric amplifier system predicted an efficiency as high as ~50% for about 40 mJ of output pulse energy at a wavelength of 2 μm. Sources of such intensity-modulated pulses near 1.6 μm or 2 μm wavelength, pumped by Ti:sapphire or Yb-doped lasers, can be ideally suited for intense multicycle THz pulse generation with tunable frequency and bandwidth by optical rectification for example in organic, semiconductor, or lithium niobate materials

Single attosecond pulse from terahertz-assisted high-order harmonic generation

High-order harmonic generation by few-cycle 800 nm laser pulses in neon gas in the presence of a strong terahertz (THz) field is investigated numerically with propagation effects taken into account. Our calculations show that the combination of THz fields with up to 12 fs laser pulses can be an effective gating technique to generate single attosecond pulses. We show that in the presence of the strong THz field only a single attosecond burst can be phase matched, whereas radiation emitted during other half-cycles disappears during propagation. The cutoff is extended and a wide supercontinuum appears in the near-field spectra, extending the available spectral width for isolated attosecond pulse generation from 23 to 93 eV. We demonstrate that phase matching effects are responsible for the generation of isolated attosecond pulses, even in conditions when single atom response yields an attosecond pulse train

Nonlinear distortion of intense THz beams

Near- and far-field beam profiles were measured for THz pulses generated in LiNbO3 by optical rectification of 200 fs pulses with a tilted pulse front. The variation of the THz beam size and a dramatically increasing divergence angle with increasing pump fluence were observed in the (horizontal) plane of the pulse front tilt. No significant variation was observed in the vertical direction. The reason for the observed nonlinear beam distortion is the shortening of the effective interaction length for THz generation caused by the combined effect of pump spectral broadening and angular dispersion in the tilted pulse front geometry. Our results indicate that nonlinear THz beam distortion effects have to be taken into account when designing intense THz sources and related experiments

Prospects of Semiconductor Terahertz Pulse Sources

Extremely high pump-to-terahertz (THz) conversion efficiencies up to 0.7% were demonstrated in recent experiments with ZnTe THz pulse sources. Such high efficiencies could be achieved by pumping at an infrared wavelength sufficiently long to suppress both two- and three-photon absorption and the associated free-carrier absorption at THz frequencies. Here, high-field high-energy THz pulse generation by optical rectification in semiconductor nonlinear materials is investigated by numerical simulations. Basic design aspects of infrared-pumped semiconductor THz sources are discussed. Optimal pumping and phase-matching conditions are given. Multicycle THz pulse generation for particle acceleration is discussed

Intense tera-hertz laser driven proton acceleration in plasmas

We investigate the acceleration of a proton beam driven by intense tera-hertz (THz) laser field from a near critical density hydrogen plasma. Two-dimension-in-space and three-dimension-in-velocity particle-in-cell simulation results show that a relatively long wavelength and an intense THz laser can be employed for proton acceleration to high energies from near critical density plasmas. We adopt here the electromagnetic field in a long wavelength (0.33 THz) regime in contrast to the optical and/or near infrared wavelength regime, which offers distinct advantages due to their long wavelength (k ¼ 350 lm), such as the k2 scaling of the electron ponderomotive energy. Simulation study delineates the evolution of THz laser field in a near critical plasma reflecting the enhancement in the electric field of laser, which can be of high relevance for staged or post ion acceleration

Effects of different tooth bleaching systems on the roughness and superficial morphology of enamel and a restorative composite resin

Objetivo: Avaliar as alterações de rugosidade e morfologia superficial do esmalte e da resina composta após diferentes técnicas de clareamento dental. Material e método: incisivos bovinos íntegros foram selecionados, sendo que cavidades padronizadas foram confeccionadas na face vestibular, as quais foram restauradas com resina composta. Os dentes foram distribuídos em grupos, de acordo com o tratamento proposto: G1-clareamento com peróxido de carbamida (PC) 10%; G2 - clareamento com peróxido de hidrogênio (PH) a 38%; G3- clareamento com PH a 38% associado à foto-ativação com LED. Para G1, o agente clareador foi aplicado por 8 horas diárias durante 21 dias. Para\ud G2 e G3, foram realizadas 3 sessões de clareamento, caracterizadas por 3 aplicações do gel clareador por 15 minutos, com intervalos de 7 dias entre as sessões, sendo que em G3 o gel clareador foi ativado com LED (470nm) por 6 minutos. As superfícies do esmalte e da resina composta foram avaliadas antes e após o procedimento clareador através de um rugosímetro e de um microscópio de força atômica. Resultados: Os resultados demonstraram diferença significante da rugosidade do esmalte antes e após o clareamento apenas para G1, em relação ao controle (Wilcoxon, p<0,05). Para a resina composta, nenhum dos grupos apresentou diferença estatística em relação ao controle (Mann-Whitney, p>0,05). Conclusão: O aumento da rugosidade do esmalte aconteceu apenas quando o clareamento foi realizado através da aplicação de um gel com 10% de PC. Nenhum dos procedimentos clareadores avaliados nesta pesquisa interferiram na rugosidade e morfologia da resina composta.CNPq (135181/2010-0; 30129/2010-1

Metamaterial-Enhanced Nonlinear Terahertz Spectroscopy

We demonstrate large nonlinear terahertz responses in the gaps of metamaterial split ring resonators in several materials and use nonlinear THz transmission and THz-pump/THz-probe spectroscopy to study the nonlinear responses and dynamics. We use the field enhancement in the SRR gaps to initiate high-field phenomena at lower incident fields. In vanadium dioxide, we drive the insulator-to-metal phase transition with high-field THz radiation. The film conductivity increases by over two orders of magnitude and the phase transition occurs on a several picosecond timescale. In gallium arsenide, we observe high-field transport phenomena, including mobility saturation and impact ionization. The carrier density increases by up to ten orders of magnitude at high fields. At the highest fields, we demonstrate THz-induced damage in both vanadium dioxide and gallium arsenide.United States. Dept. of Energy (DOE-BES, grant DE-FG02- 09ER46643)United States. Office of Naval Research (ONR Grant No. N00014-09-1-1103