Broadband terahertz solid-state emitter driven by Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator

Abstract

Abstract We report on a table-top, high-power, terahertz (THz) solid-state emitter driven by few-cycle near-infrared pulses at 16 MHz repetition rate in gallium phosphide (GaP) crystals. Two external nonlinear multi-pass cells are used to shorten the output of a home-built, 100 W, 265 fs, 6.2 μ J Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator, operating at 1030 nm, to 18 fs with 3.78 μ J pulse energy. The broadband spectrum of the THz driver allowed for the extension of the THz cutoff frequency to 5.7 THz at the dynamic range of 10 4 . By employing the high-power Yb:YAG thin-disk oscillator, the low efficiency of the THz generation is circumvented, resulting in the generation of up to 100 μ W, multi-octave THz pulses at 5 THz cutoff frequency in a 2 mm thick GaP crystal.