Directional, joule per steradian THz pulses from multi-joule laser irradiation of wires
We report on THz pulses with energy flux exceeding 2.5 J/sr and high directionality, generated from picosecond, joule laser irradiation of microwires. The impact of wire diameter, length, and laser irradiation orientation is explored with the irradiation of 160 μm diameter, 750 μm, sharpened wires at the dull base found to produce the highest energy and shortest wavelength THz pulses among the targets tested. A traveling wave antenna combined with coherent transition radiation model is developed to explain the emission pattern, pulse energy, and spectrum seen.
Authors
- Gerrit Bruhaug (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0217-3146)
- K. Zhai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8432-3696)
- J. R. Rygg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0605-7847)
- M. S. Wei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4257-6409)
- S. P. Regan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6359-7172)
- Matthew Signor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9022-5435)
- R. Nowak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1096-5098)
- X.-C. Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1694-3356)
- G. W. Collins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4883-1087)
- H. G. Rinderknecht (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4969-5571)
- A. Nečas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9054-7653)
- R. J. Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3595-781X)
- Jiacheng Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8459-6799)
- Eric A. Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9282-5125)
- Y. E
Institutions
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- University of Rochester (US)
- TAE Technologies, Inc (United States) (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physics of Plasmas
- Published
- 2025-07-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0272806
- Primary Topic
- Terahertz technology and applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Nuclear Security Administration
- Fusion Energy Sciences
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research