Generation of low-frequency radiation by dense hot plasma under pondermotive action of a short laser pulse

Abstract

The theory of the generation of low-frequency radiation under the pondermotive action of a femtosecond laser pulse on dense hot plasma is developed. It is shown that, at fairly high plasma temperatures, when electron-electron collisions are rare and the low-frequency field is excited under conditions of the anomalous skin effect, the generation efficiency can be close to maximal. The optimal generation conditions are achieved if the carrier frequency of the laser pulse is close to the plasma frequency and the pulse is tightly focused. Under irradiation by pulses with durations of tens to hundreds femtoseconds, terahertz radiation is generated in a broad angular range.