Scaling behavior of ultrafast two-color terahertz generation in plasma gas targets: energy and pressure dependence

Ultrafast terahertz emission from two-color generated laser plasma gas targets is studied using air and the noble gases (neon, argon, krypton, and xenon) as the generation media. Terahertz output pulse energy and power spectra are measured as function of gas species, gas pressure, and input pulse energy up to 6 mJ per pulse using a 40-fs 1-kHz Ti:sapphire laser system as the drive source. Terahertz pulse energies approaching 1 mu J per pulse with spectral content out to 40 THz and pulse duration of 35 fs is reported. A simple one dimensional transient photocurrent ionization model is used to calculate the spectra showing good agreement with experiments. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America