Extremely high pump-to-terahertz (THz) conversion efficiencies up to 0.7% were demonstrated in recent experiments with ZnTe THz pulse sources. Such high efficiencies could be achieved by pumping at an infrared wavelength sufficiently long to suppress both two-and three-photon absorption and the associated free-carrier absorption at THz frequencies. Here, highfield high-energy THz pulse generation by optical rectification in semiconductor nonlinear materials is investigated by numerical simulations. Basic design aspects of infrared-pumped semiconductor THz sources are discussed. Optimal pumping and phase-matching conditions are given. Multicycle THz pulse generation for particle acceleration is discussed.

Amplified bursts of laser pulses are sought for various machining 1 , deposition 2 , spectroscopic 3 and strong-field applications 4 . Standard frequency-and time-domain techniques for pulse division 5-14 become inadequate when intraburst repetition rates reach the terahertz (THz) range as a consequence of inaccessible spectral resolution, requirement for interferometric stability, and collapse of the chirped pulse amplification (CPA) concept due to the loss of usable bandwidth needed for safe temporal stretching. Avoiding the burst amplification challenge and resorting to a lossy post-division of an isolated laser pulse after CPA leaves the limitations of frequency-and time-domain techniques unsolved. In this letter, we demonstrate an approach that successfully combines amplitude and phase shaping of THz bursts, formed using the Vernier effect, with active stabilization of spectral modes and efficient energy extraction from a CPA regenerative amplifier. As proof of concept, the amplified bursts of femtosecond near-infrared pulses are down-converted into tunable THz-frequency pulses via optical rectification.

Extremely high pump-to-terahertz (THz) conversion efficiencies up to 0.7% were demonstrated in recent experiments with ZnTe THz pulse sources. Such high efficiencies could be achieved by pumping at an infrared wavelength sufficiently long to suppress both two-and three-photon absorption and the associated free-carrier absorption at THz frequencies. Here, highfield high-energy THz pulse generation by optical rectification in semiconductor nonlinear materials is investigated by numerical simulations. Basic design aspects of infrared-pumped semiconductor THz sources are discussed. Optimal pumping and phase-matching conditions are given. Multicycle THz pulse generation for particle acceleration is discussed.

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, compact, imaging-free, tilted-pulse-front (TPF) pumped terahertz (THz) source based on a LiNbO3 slab with a small wedge angle (< 8°) and with an echelon microstructure on its input surface has been demonstrated. Single-cycle pulses of more than 40-µJ energy and 0.28-THz central frequency have been generated by 100-mJ, 400-fs pump pulses with 4.1 × 10–4 efficiency and excellent focusability. The peak electric field value focused by a single parabolic mirror was 540 kV/cm. Using 200-fs-long pump pulses, the efficiency increased to 1.0 × 10–3, which is in qualitative agreement with the measured increased diffraction efficiency in the velocity matched diffraction order. A further ∼8x increase in efficiency is expected by pumping a cryogenically cooled wedged echelon with appropriate step sizes, better microstructured surface quality, and antireflection coating on both the input and the output sides. THz generation efficiency maxima were found at ∼2.7-mm crystal thickness for both pump pulse durations. The focused THz beam was diffraction limited within 5% accuracy. Compared to conventional THz sources, this setup is very compact, easy to align, can be pumped by larger beam sizes maintaining the high THz generation efficiency, and produces THz pulses with superior focusability.

We present designs of semiconductor contact grating high energy terahertz pulse sources pumped by femtosecond pulses in the 1 to 5 µm wavelength range. Nearly wavelength-independent diffraction efficiencies as high as 69% and 75% in the ± 1 st diffraction orders in the transverse electric field polarization state were predicted in GaAs and GaP, respectively, based on a rectangular grating. Numerical simulations—including, for the first time, to our knowledge, the effects of both a nonlinear refractive index and free carrier absorption—were performed to investigate the possible advantage of using longer pumping wavelengths to suppress the two- to seven-photon absorption. Conversion efficiency larger than 1.0% is predicted for both crystals. We also recognized that the nonlinear refractive index and the wavelength-dependent optical parametric amplifier efficiency can significantly reduce the overall terahertz generation efficiency; thus, optimum pump wavelengths exist for the highest conversion efficiency, which are 2 and 3 µ m for GaP and GaAs, respectively.