Abstract-Stable and Scalable Multistage Terahertz-Driven Particle Accelerator

 

Heng Tang, Lingrong Zhao, Pengfei Zhu, Xiao Zou, Jia Qi, Ya Cheng, Jiaqi Qiu, Xianggang Hu, Wei Song, Dao Xiang, and Jie Zhang

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.074801?ft=1

Particle accelerators that use electromagnetic fields to increase a charged particle’s energy have greatly advanced the development of science and industry since invention. However, the enormous cost and size of conventional radio-frequency accelerators have limited their accessibility. Here, we demonstrate a miniaccelerator powered by terahertz pulses with wavelengths 100 times shorter than radio-frequency pulses. By injecting a short relativistic electron bunch to a 30-mm-long dielectric-lined waveguide and tuning the frequency of a 20-period terahertz pulse to the phase-velocity-matched value, precise and sustained acceleration for nearly 100% of the electrons is achieved with the beam energy spread essentially unchanged. Furthermore, by accurately controlling the phase of two terahertz pulses, the beam is stably accelerated successively in two dielectric waveguides with close to 100% charge coupling efficiency. Our results demonstrate stable and scalable beam acceleration in a multistage miniaccelerator and pave the way for functioning terahertz-driven high-energy accelerators.

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Abstract-1.4‐mJ High Energy Terahertz Radiation from Lithium Niobates

 

Baolong Zhang,  Zhenzhe Ma, Jinglong Ma,  Xiaojun Wu,  Chen Ouyang,  Deyin Kong,  Tianshu Hong,  Xuan Wang,  Peidi Yang, Liming Chen, Yutong Li, Jie Zhang, 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/lpor.202000295

Free‐space super‐strong terahertz (THz) electromagnetic fields offer multifaceted capabilities for reaching extreme nonlinear THz optics. However, the lack of powerful solid‐state THz sources with single pulse energy >1 mJ is impeding the proliferation of extreme THz applications. The fundamental challenge lies in hard to achieve high efficiency due to high intensity pumping caused crystal damage, linear absorption, and nonlinear distortion induced short effective interaction length, and so on. Here, through cryogenically cooling the crystals, tailoring the pump laser spectra, chirping the pump pulses, and magnifying the laser energies, 1.4‐mJ THz pulses are successfully realized in lithium niobates under the excitation of 214‐mJ femtosecond laser pulses via tilted pulse front technique. The 800 nm‐to‐THz energy conversion efficiency reaches 0.7%, and a free‐space THz peak electric and magnetic field reaches 6.3 MV cm−1 and 2.1 Tesla. Numerical simulations reproduce the experimental optimization processes. To show the capability of this super‐strong THz source, nonlinear absorption in high conductive silicon induced by strong THz electric field is demonstrated. Such a high‐energy THz source with a relatively low peak frequency is very appropriate not only for electron acceleration toward table‐top X‐ray sources but also for extreme THz science and nonlinear applications.

Abstract-Optical tuning of dielectric properties of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/SrTiO3 superlattices in the terahertz range

Honglei Cai, Haoliang Huang, Qiuping Huang, Xiang Hu, Jie Zhang, Xiaofang Zhai,  Yalin Lu

Fig. 2 (a) Schematic diagram of the home-made THz-TDS system. The green arrow indicates the excitation under 532 nm continuous waves. (b) Schematic diagram of the home-made OPTP system. Here, λ/4 and W.P. refer to a quarter-wave plate and a Wollaston prism, respectively.

https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-26-6-7842&origin=search

Two (La0.7Sr0.3MnO3)n/(SrTiO3)m superlattices with different superlattice period but the same total thickness were deposited on LaAlO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Dielectric properties of these samples were investigated by means of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) under external continuous wave green laser excitation and optical-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy (OPTP) at room temperature. Experimental results show that the real part of the permittivity for both superlattices increases significantly with increasing green laser pump power, which indicates the decrease of the plasma frequency, along with the increase of the electron scattering rate, soft mode eigenfrequency and oscillator strength in the Drude-Lorentz model. Furthermore, it’s observed that the insulating superlattice exhibits a more significant dielectric tunability than the metallic superlattice. Besides, the carrier lifetime of superlattices is much shorter than the La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin film in the OPTP measurements, indicating that the electrons excited in the La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 layers may be trapped by the defects located in the interfaces of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 and SrTiO3 or the SrTiO3 layers. With the optical field-induced tunability of dielectric properties, (La0.7Sr0.3MnO3)n/(SrTiO3)m superlattices show great potential in the actively tunable devices in the THz range.

© 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

Abstract-Manipulation of polarizations for broadband terahertz waves emitted from laser plasma filaments

Zhelin Zhang, Yanping Chen, Sen Cui, Feng He, Min Chen, Zhen Zhang, Jin Yu, Liming Chen, Zhengming Sheng, Jie Zhang,

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-018-0238-9?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nphoton%2Frss%2Fcurrent+%28Nature+Photonics+-+Issue%29

Polarization control of broadband terahertz waves is essential for applications in many areas, such as materials science, medical and biological diagnostics, near-field communications and public securities. Conventional methods for polarization control are limited to narrow bandwidth and often with low efficiency. Here, based on theoretical and experimental studies, we demonstrate that the two-colour laser scheme in gas plasma can provide effective control of elliptically polarized terahertz waves, including their ellipticity, azimuthal angle and chirality. This is achieved with a circularly polarized laser at the fundamental frequency and its linearly polarized second harmonic, a controlled phase difference between these two laser components, as well as a suitable length of the laser plasma filament. Flexible control of ellipticity and azimuthal angle is demonstrated with our theoretical model and systematic experiments. This offers a unique and flexible technique on the polarization control of broadband terahertz radiation suitable for a wide range of applications.

Abstract->mJ terahertz radiation sources from intense laser-foil interactions

Yutong Li, Guoqian Liao, David Neely, Paul McKenna, Zhengming Sheng, and Jie Zhang

https://www.osapublishing.org/abstract.cfm?uri=ISUPTW-2018-TuE1

We have systematically studied strong THz radiation from solid targets driven by relativistic femtosecond and picosecond laser pulses. The THz generation is due to coherent transition radiation of relativistic laser-driven electron beams when they pass the solid-vacuum boundary. The THz radiation with pulse energy of >mJ has been observed with picosecond pulses. Such high energy THz pulses can not only trigger various nonlinear dynamics in matter, but also open up a new research field of relativistic THz optics.

© 2018 OSA

Abstract-THz pulses over 50 millijoules generated from relativistic picosecond laser-plasma interactions

Guoqian Liao, Yutong Li, Hao Liu, Jie Zhang,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325118432_THz_pulses_over_50_millijoules_generated_from_relativistic_picosecond_laser-plasma_interactions

Ultrahigh-power terahertz (THz) radiation sources are essential for many applications, such as nonlinear THz physics, THz-wave based compact accelerators, etc. However, until now none of THz sources reported, whether based upon large-scale accelerators or high power lasers, have produced THz pulses with energies above the millijoule (mJ) barrier. Here we report on the efficient generation of low-frequency (<3 THz) THz pulses with unprecedentedly high energies over 50 mJ. The THz radiation is produced by coherent transition radiation of a picosecond laser-accelerated ultra-bright bunch of relativistic electrons from a solid target. Such high energy THz pulses can not only trigger various nonlinear dynamics in matter, but also open up a new research field of relativistic THz optics 

Abstract-Controllable terahertz radiation from a linear-dipole array formed by a two-color laser filament in air

Zhelin Zhang, Yanping Chen, Min Chen, Zhen Zhang, Jin Yu, Zhengming Sheng, and Jie Zhang

https://journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/fd074Y68Ied1594578cd5ca4cd2aa25a9fed8b991

We have demonstrated the effective control on carrier-envelope phase, angular distribution as well as peak intensity of a nearly single-cycle terahertz pulse emitted from a laser filament formed by two-color, the fundamental and the corresponding second harmonics, femtosecond laser pulses propagating in air. Experimentally, such control has been performed by varying the filament length and the initial phase difference between the two-color laser components. A linear-dipole-array model, including the descriptions of the both generation (via laser field ionization) and propagation of the emitted terahertz pulse, is proposed to present a quantitative interpretation of the observations. Our results contribute to the understanding of terahertz generation in a femtosecond laser filament and suggest a practical way to control the electric field of terahertz pulse for potential applications.

2D Physics Blog-Relativistic Laser-Driven Table-top Intense Terahertz Transition Radiation Sources

From Left to Right: Guo-Qian Liao, Yu-Tong Li, Xiao-Hui Yuan 
http://www.2physics.com/2016/07/relativistic-laser-driven-table-top.html

Authors: Guo-Qian Liao¹, Yu-Tong Li^1,4, Hao Liu¹, Yi-Hang Zhang¹, Xiao-Hui Yuan^2,4, Xu-Lei Ge², Su Yang², Wen-Qing Wei², Wei-Min Wang^1,4, Zheng-Ming Sheng^2,3,4, Jie Zhang^2,4 

Affiliation:
¹Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China 
²Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (MoE) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China 
³SUPA, Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom,
⁴Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA (CICIFSA), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

Intense terahertz (THz) radiation sources, the frequency of which lies between far-infrared waves and microwaves in the electromagnetic spectrum, are significantly important for THz sciences and applications in many interdisciplinary fields [1]. Currently THz radiation with energies of >100 μJ/pulse is usually obtained with huge-sized accelerators [2]. Laser-plasma interactions provide a unique opportunity to achieve tabletop high-field THz radiation sources. With the relativistic electron beams accelerated by laser wakefields in gas targets, Leemans et al. have obtained ∼0.3 μJ THz pulses through transition radiation [3].

Strong THz radiation from laser-solid interactions has attracted much interest [4,5]. Compared with gas targets, fast electron beams from solid foil targets have much higher charge, up to nC or even near μC. Usually the bunch length of the electron beam accelerated by a femtosecond laser pulse is of the order of ~10 μm, which is smaller than the wavelength of THz radiation. Therefore, the forward fast electrons will induce coherent transition radiation (CTR) in the THz regime when crossing the rear surface-vacuum boundary (see Figure 1). This has so far not yet been verified experimentally.

Figure 1: Illustration of the THz generation due to the CTR of fast electron beams at the rear surface of a foil target irradiated by intense laser pulses. 

In our recent work [6], we have experimentally demonstrated intense coherent THz transition radiation by laser-driven, relativistic electron beams crossing the rear surface of a thin solid foil. The experiment was carried out on the femtosecond laser system at the Laboratory for Laser Plasma, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. From the rear side of a 5 μm thick metal foil irradiated by a 2 J/ 30 fs laser pulse, we obtain an intense THz pulse with an energy of ~400 μJ, which is comparable to the energy level of the conventional accelerator based THz sources [2]. The measured THz radiation covers a bandwidth up to 30 THz [see Figure 2(a)], and has an asymmetric “double-wing-like” angular distribution [see Figure 2(b)]. Both CTR-based theoretical calculations and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations can well reproduce the experimental measurements.

Figure 2: [click on the image to view with higher resolution] (a) Experimentally measured (blue circle dashed) and simulated (black solid) frequency spectra of the THz radiation from the metal foil. (b) Angular distributions of the THz radiation measured (blue circle), simulated (black dashed), and calculated with CTR model (red solid), all of which are normalized by the THz intensity at 75°.

The CTR model predicts that the THz radiation intensity is closely dependent on the target parameters, for example, the size and dielectric property of the target. To verify this, several types of targets are adopted to understand the THz generation. For the mass-limited metal targets, the observed dependence of THz intensity on the target sizes [see Figure 3(a)] can be explained by the CTR model modified by diffraction effect [7]. For the metal-PE double layered targets, we find that there exists an optimal PE thickness when increasing the thickness of the PE layer from 15 μm to 500 μm [see Figure 3(b)]. This can be explained by the CTR model considering the formation-zone effects [8]. Compared with the THz radiation from the PE targets, we find the THz intensity from the targets with a 5 μm thick metal coating at the target rear is dramatically enhanced by over 10 times [see Figure 3(c)]. This is a solid evidence for transition radiation.

Figure 3: [click on the image to view with higher resolution] (a) Experimentally measured THz intensity (blue circles) and theoretically calculated diffraction modification factor D (curves) as a function of target sizes. (b) Measured THz intensity at 75° (black square) and -75° (blue circle) from the metal-PE targets as a function of the thickness of the PE layer. (c) Comparison of the THz signals measured from the 40 μm thick PE targets with or without a 5 μm metal coating at the rear. 

The laser-plasma-based THz transition radiation presented here could be a promising tabletop high-energy THz source. Moreover, it may provide a potential diagnostic to infer the spatiotemporal distribution of the high-flux fast electron beams generated in laser-solid interactions. 

References: 
[1] M. Tonouchi, “Cutting-edge terahertz technology”, Nature Photonics, 1, 97 (2007). Abstract. 
[2] Ziran Wu, Alan S. Fisher, John Goodfellow, Matthias Fuchs, Dan Daranciang, Mark Hogan, Henrik Loos, Aaron Lindenberg, “Intense terahertz pulses from SLAC electron beams using coherent transition radiation”, Review of Scientific Instruments, 84, 022701 (2013). Abstract. 
[3] W. P. Leemans, C. G. R. Geddes, J. Faure, Cs. Tóth, J. van Tilborg, C. B. Schroeder, E. Esarey, G. Fubiani, D. Auerbach, B. Marcelis, M. A. Carnahan, R. A. Kaindl, J. Byrd, M. C. Martin, “Observation of terahertz emission from a laser-plasma accelerated electron bunch crossing a plasma-vacuum boundary”, Physical Review Letters, 91, 074802 (2003). Abstract. 
[4] G. Q. Liao, Y. T. Li, C. Li, L. N. Su, Y. Zheng, M. Liu, W. M. Wang, Z. D. Hu, W. C. Yan, J. Dunn, J. Nilsen, J. Hunter, Y. Liu, X. Wang, L. M. Chen, J. L. Ma, X. Lu, Z. Jin, R. Kodama, Z. M. Sheng, J. Zhang, “Bursts of terahertz radiation from large-scale plasmas irradiated by relativistic picosecond laser pulses”, Physical Review Letters, 114, 255001 (2015). Abstract. 
[5] 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, G. G. Paulus, “Observation of Gigawatt-class THz pulses from a compact laser-driven particle accelerator”, Physical Review Letters, 111, 074802 (2013). Abstract. 
[6] Guo-Qian Liao, Yu-Tong Li, Yi-Hang Zhang, Hao Liu, Xu-Lei Ge, Su Yang, Wen-Qing Wei, Xiao-Hui Yuan, Yan-Qing Deng, Bao-Jun Zhu, Zhe Zhang, Wei-Min Wang, Zheng-Ming Sheng, Li-Ming Chen, Xin Lu, Jing-Long Ma, Xuan Wang, Jie Zhang, “Demonstration of coherent terahertz transition radiation from relativistic laser-solid interactions”, Physical Review Letters, 116, 205003 (2016). Abstract. 
[7] C. B. Schroeder, E. Esarey, J. van Tilborg, W. P. Leemans, “Theory of coherent transition radiation generated at a plasma-vacuum interface”, Physical Review E, 69, 016501 (2004). Abstract. 
[8] Luke C. L. Yuan, C. L. Wang, H. Uto, “Formation-zone effect in transition radiation due to ultrarelativistic particles”, Physical Review Letters, 25, 1513 (1970). Abstract.

Abstract-Backward terahertz radiation from intense laser-solid interactions

Chun Li, Guo-Qian Liao, Mu-Lin Zhou, Fei Du, Jing-Long Ma, Yu-Tong Li, Wei-Min Wang, Zheng-Ming Sheng, Li-Ming Chen, and Jie Zhang
https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-24-4-4010

We report a systematic study on backward terahertz (THz) radiation generation from laser-solid interactions by changing a variety of laser/plasma parameters. We demonstrate a high-energy (with an energy flux density reaching 80 μJ/sr), broadband (>10 THz) plasma-based radiation source. The radiation energy is mainly distributed either in the >10 THz or <3 THz regions. A radial surface current formed by the lateral transport of low-energy electrons (LEE) is believed to be responsible for the radiation in the high-THz region (>10 THz), while high-energy surface fast electrons (SFE) accelerated along the target surface mainly contribute to lower frequency (<3 THz) radiation. The unifying explanation could be applied to backward THz radiation generation from solid targets with presence of relative small preplasmas.

© 2016 Optical Society of America

Full Article  |  PDF Article

Abstract-Spectral interference of terahertz pulses from two laser filaments in air

Yanping Chen^1,2,a), Zhelin Zhang^1,2, Zhen Zhang^1,2, Xiaohui Yuan^1,2, Feng Liu^1,2, Min Chen^1,2, Jianqiu Xu^1,2, Jin Yu^1,3, Zhengming Sheng^1,2,4,b) and Jie Zhang^1,2
 VIEW AFFILIATIONS
a) Electronic mail: yanping.chen@sjtu.edu.cn
b) Electronic mail: zmsheng@sjtu.edu.cn
Appl. Phys. Lett. 106, 221105 (2015); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4922143

Spectral interference is experimentally demonstrated by two terahertz pulses emitting from filaments induced by two successive femtosecond laser pulses in air. Here, a leading pulse is set to be weaker than a trailing pulse and their temporal separation is larger than the pulse duration of the terahertz pulses. When the leading pulse is stronger than the trailing pulse, thefrequency modulation within the whole terahertz envelope is greatly deteriorated due tononlinear effects applying on the trailing pulse through the plasmas generated by the leading pulses. Such unique terahertz spectrum may find applications in terahertz spectroscopy.

Abstract-Dual-frequency terahertz emission from splitting filaments induced by lens tilting in air

Zhelin Zhang¹, Yanping Chen^1,a), Liu Yang¹, Xiaohui Yuan¹, Feng Liu¹, Min Chen¹, Jianqiu Xu¹, Zhengming Sheng^1,2 and Jie Zhang¹
http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/105/10/10.1063/1.4895720
1 Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (Ministry of Education), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
2 Department of Physics, SUPA, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG, United Kingdom
a) Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: yanping.chen@sjtu.edu.cn
Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 101110 (2014); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4895720

Dual-frequency terahertz radiation from air-plasma filaments produced with two-color lasers in air has been demonstrated experimentally. When a focusing lens is tilted for a few degrees, it is shown that the laser filament evolves from a single one to two sub-filaments. Two independent terahertz sources emitted from the sub-filaments with different frequencies and polarizations are identified, where the frequency of terahertz waves from the trailing sub-filament is higher than that from the leading sub-filament.

Abstract-Role of resonance absorption in terahertz radiation generation from solid targets

Chun Li, Yun-Qian Cui, Mu-Lin Zhou, Fei Du, Yu-Tong Li, Wei-Min Wang, Li-Ming Chen, Zheng-Ming Sheng, Jing-Long Ma, Xin Lu, and Jie Zhang  »View Author Affiliations

http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-22-10-11797

Optics Express, Vol. 22, Issue 10, pp. 11797-11803 (2014)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.22.011797

The interaction of 100-fs laser pulses with solid targets at laser intensities 10¹⁶-10¹⁸ W/cm² has been investigated experimentally by simultaneous measurements of terahertz (THz) and second harmonic signals. THz yield at the front side of the target, which rises from the self-organized transient electron currents along the target surface, is found scaling linearly with the laser intensity basically. Measurements of specularly reflected light spectrum show clear evidence of resonance absorption. The positive effects of resonance absorption on surface current and THz radiation generation have been confirmed by two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and angular-dependent experiments, respectively.

© 2014 Optical Society of America

Abstract-Terahertz radiation by two-color lasers due to the field ionization of gases

Wei-Min Wang, Yu-Tong Li, Zheng-Ming Sheng, Xin Lu, and Jie Zhang
http://pre.aps.org/accepted/1d078R15L2619d0177d37fd730a6e235c87f880c7

Terahertz (THz) radiation via the two-color laser scheme is investigated theoretically and numerically when the second laser is at different harmonic orders of the main laser. It is found that THz radiation can be generated only when the second laser is an even harmonic and the THz field strength does not show a simple scaling with the two laser amplitudes, suggesting that it is different from a nonlinear optics processes. The THz strength generally tends to decrease with the increase of the even harmonic order. The strength is also sensitive to the carrier envelope (CE) phases of both the two laser pulses even if their durations are quite long. With different CE phases, the strength can be proportional to either sine or cosine of the relative phase displacement of the two lasers. For a given gas target except hydrogen, it increases with the laser amplitude between several saturation plateaus, each corresponding to a different ionization level. For a given main laser intensity, there is an optimized intensity of the second laser for the strongest THz radiation.