Optimal synchronization of laser pulses in THz generation scheme with colliding plasma wakes

Abstract

This paper discusses optimal conditions for setting up a laboratory experiment on the generation of narrow-band THz radiation due to the head-on collision of two plasma wakes excited by a pair of femtosecond laser pulses in a supersonic helium jet. In this case, emission of electromagnetic waves at the second harmonic of the plasma frequency is caused by nonlinear interaction of counterpropagating plasma waves having different transverse potential profiles in the focus of the laser beams. Using particle-in-cell simulations, we study how strongly the efficiency of laser-to-terahertz energy conversion in this scheme is affected by the inhomogeneous electron density profile arising during field ionization of helium, as well as by the time-delay between arrivals of laser pulses to the focal point.