High-energy terahertz pulses from semiconductors pumped beyond the three-photon absorption edge

Polónyi, Gy.; Monoszlai, B.; Gäumann, Gregory; Rohwer, Egmont Johann; Andriukaitis, G.; Balciunas, T.; Pugzlys, A.; Baltuska, A.; Feurer, Thomas; Hebling, J.; Fülöp, J. A. (2016). High-energy terahertz pulses from semiconductors pumped beyond the three-photon absorption edge. Optics express, 24(21), pp. 23872-23882. Optical Society of America 10.1364/OE.24.023872

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A new route to efficient generation of THz pulses with high-energy was demonstrated using semiconductor materials pumped at an infrared wavelength sufficiently long to suppress both two- and three-photon absorption and associated free-carrier absorption at THz frequencies. For pumping beyond the three-photon absorption edge, the THz generation efficiency for optical rectification of femtosecond laser pulses with tilted intensity front in ZnTe was shown to increase 3.5 times, as compared to pumping below the absorption edge. The four-photon absorption coefficient of ZnTe was estimated to be β₄=(4±1)×10⁻⁵ cm⁵/GW³. THz pulses with 14 μJ energy were generated with as high as 0.7% efficiency in ZnTe pumped at 1.7 µm. It is shown that scaling the THz pulse energy to the mJ level by increasing the pump spot size and pump pulse energy is feasible.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Applied Physics
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Applied Physics > Lasers

UniBE Contributor:

Gäumann, Gregory, Rohwer, Egmont Johann, Feurer, Thomas

Subjects:

600 Technology > 620 Engineering
500 Science
500 Science > 530 Physics

ISSN:

1094-4087

Publisher:

Optical Society of America

Language:

English

Submitter:

Simone Corry

Date Deposited:

12 Jul 2017 14:25

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:03

Publisher DOI:

10.1364/OE.24.023872

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.96975

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/96975

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