Terahertz-pulse emission by laser excitation of surface plasmons in a metal grating

Metallic nanostructures have been prepared by depositing thin layers of gold onto a fused-silica transmission grating. Excitation with 800-nm femtosecond laser pulses in air results in the emission of terahertz radiation with an angle-dependent efficiency and a third-order dependence on input power....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Welsh, G.H., Hunt, N.T., Wynne, K.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Electron Emission
Glass
Gold
Gratings
Laser excitation
Nanostructures
Optical pulses
Plasmons
Power lasers
Pulsed laser deposition
Surface emitting lasers
Surface Waves
Terahertz pulse generation
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Summary:Metallic nanostructures have been prepared by depositing thin layers of gold onto a fused-silica transmission grating. Excitation with 800-nm femtosecond laser pulses in air results in the emission of terahertz radiation with an angle-dependent efficiency and a third-order dependence on input power. Nanostructures consisting of metal nano-pyramids on glass as well as silver nano-pyramid arrays covered in gold also exhibit terahertz emission. We will show that the source of the terahertz radiation in all of these cases is surface-plasmon- assisted multiphoton ionisation and ponderomotive acceleration in the evanescent laser field.
ISSN:2162-2027
DOI:10.1109/ICIMW.2007.4516784