High energy terahertz emission from two-color laser-induced filamentation in air with pump pulse duration control

Abstract

Two-color laser-induced femtosecond filamentation was employed to generate high energy terahertz emission in air with high energy pump. By controlling the pump pulse duration, more than four times enhancement in terahertz pulse energy has been obtained when compared with a Fourier transform-limited pump. Multiple filaments’ dynamics might be responsible for the terahertz enhancement. Superbroadband terahertz pulse with energy up to 2 μJ was generated using loose focusing condition, while the maximum terahertz pulse energy in the frequency range below 5.5 THz was around 60 nJ.