title: Observation of terahertz emission from a laser-plasma accelerated electron bunch crossing a plasma-vacuum boundary.
abstract: Coherent radiation in the 0.3-3 THz range has been generated from femtosecond electron bunches at a plasma-vacuum boundary via transition radiation. The bunches produced by a laser-plasma accelerator contained 1.5 nC of charge. The THz energy per pulse within a limited 30 mrad collection angle was 3-5 nJ and scaled quadratically with bunch charge, consistent with coherent emission. Modeling indicates that this broadband source produces about 0.3 microJ per pulse within a 100 mrad angle, and that increasing the transverse plasma size and electron beam energy could provide more than 100 microJ/pulse.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Leemans
authors.forename: C G R
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Geddes
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Faure
authors.forename: Cs
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tóth
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Tilborg
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Schroeder
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Esarey
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fubiani
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Auerbach
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Marcelis
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Carnahan
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Kaindl
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Byrd
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Martin