Abstract
The superposition of signal and idler pulses in dual-chirped optical parametric amplification is proposed for the efficient generation of intensity-modulated pulses with periodic modulation. Both the duration and the modulation period are easily and independently adjustable. Numerical simulations for a three-stage optical parametric amplifier system predicted an efficiency as high as ~50% for about 40 mJ of output pulse energy at a wavelength of 2 µm. Sources of such intensity-modulated pulses near 1.6 µm or 2 µm wavelength, pumped by Ti:sapphire or Yb-doped lasers, can be ideally suited for intense multicycle THz pulse generation with tunable frequency and bandwidth by optical rectification for example in organic, semiconductor, or lithium niobate materials.
Highlights
Intense, nearly single-cycle terahertz (THz) pulses can be efficiently generated by table-top sources [1,2,3,4,5,6]
The waveguide and resonator structures proposed for electron acceleration can be more efficiently driven by multicycle THz pulses
Dielectric grating structures were proposed for laser-driven electron acceleration [13], where using multicycle THz pulses, rather than optical pulses, can be of significant advantage
Summary
Nearly single-cycle terahertz (THz) pulses can be efficiently generated by table-top sources [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Previous studies of the DC-OPA concept were aiming at the generation of high-power ultrabroadband optical [40,41,42,43,44] or THz [43] pulses compressible to few-cycle pulse durations In all these cases either the signal or the idler pulses were used, rather than the superposition of both. Our goal is to generate pulses with periodic intensity modulation by the superposition of signal and idler, which requires a constant instantaneous frequency difference between the chirped signal and idler pulses Such periodically modulated pulses can be used to drive THz generation by optical rectification in organic, semiconductor, or lithium niobate materials. The central frequencies of pump, signal, and idler are denoted by ωp0 , ωs0 , and ωi0 , respectively. (c) and (d) show the temporal intensities for the superstition of signal and idler
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
