Characterization of terahertz emission from a dc-biased filament in air

Abstract

We demonstrate that the terahertz emission from a dc-biased filament can be regarded as a sum of an elliptically polarized terahertz source (generated by a filament without external electric field) and a linearly polarized terahertz source induced by the external electric field applied to the filament. The peak frequency and linewidth of the linearly polarized terahertz source are related to the average plasma density of the filament.