title: Generation of sub-mJ terahertz pulses by optical rectification.
abstract: Recent theoretical calculations predicted an order-of-magnitude increase in the efficiency of terahertz pulse generation by optical rectification in lithium niobate when 500 fs long pump pulses are used, rather than the commonly used ~100 fs pulses. Even by using longer than optimal pump pulses of 1.3 ps duration, 2.5× higher THz pulse energy (125 μJ) was measured with 2.5× higher pump-to-THz energy conversion efficiency (0.25%) than reported previously with shorter pulses. These results verify the advantage of longer pump pulses and support the expectation that mJ-level THz pulses will be available by cooling the crystal and using large pumped area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Physics, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary. fulop@fizika.ttk.pte.hu
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Fülöp
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pálfalvi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Klingebiel
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Almási
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Krausz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karsch
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hebling