Abstract-Terahertz wave generation from liquid nitrogen

Alexei V. Balakin, Jean-Louis Coutaz, Vladimir A. Makarov, Igor A. Kotelnikov, Yan Peng, Peter M. Solyankin, Yiming Zhu, and Alexander P. Shkurinov

Fig. 1. Experimental setup. M–dielectric mirror; MM–metallic mirror; BS–beam splitter; 𝜆/2$\lambda /2$–half-wave phase plate; L–lens; PM–off-axis parabolic mirror; BBO–β$\mathrm{\beta }$-barium borate crystal.

https://www.osapublishing.org/prj/abstract.cfm?uri=prj-7-6-678

We present the results of research carried out for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, on the generation of terahertz radiation under the action of “single-color” and “dual-color” high-power femtosecond laser pulses on liquefied gas–liquid nitrogen. Our experimental results supported by careful theoretical interpretation showed clearly that under femtosecond laser radiation, liquid and air emit terahertz waves in a very different way. We assumed that the mobility of ions and electrons in liquid can play an essential role, forming a quasi-static electric field by means of ambipolar diffusion mechanism.

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