Abstract-Modeling terahertz emission from the target rear side during intense laser-solid interactions

A. Woldegeorgis, S. Herzer, M. Almassarani, S. Marathapalli, and A. Gopal

https://journals.aps.org/pre/accepted/b207eNd9R751152c60cb192029efcb45add52c9d0

Relativistic laser-solid target interaction is a powerful source of terahertz radiation where broadband terahertz radiation is emitted from the front and rear surfaces of the target. Even though several experimental works have reported the generation of sub-picosecond duration gigawatt (GW) peak power terahertz pulses from the target rear surface, the underlying physical process behind their origin is still a question at large. Here we discuss a numerical model which can accurately reproduce several aspects of the experimental results. The model is based on the charged particle dynamics at the target rear surface and the evolution of the charge separation field. We identify the major contributors which are responsible for broadband terahertz emission from the rear surface of the target.