Issue 14, 2023

Generation and control of localized terahertz fields in photoemitted electron plasmas

Abstract

Dense micron-sized electron plasmas, such as those generated upon irradiation of nanostructured metallic surfaces by intense femtosecond laser pulses, constitute a rich playground to study light–matter interactions, many-body phenomena, and out-of-equilibrium charge dynamics. Besides their fundamental interest, laser-induced plasmas hold great potential for the generation of localized terahertz radiation pulses. However, the underlying mechanisms ruling the formation and evolution of such plasmas are not yet well understood. Here, we develop a comprehensive microscopic theory to predictably describe the spatiotemporal dynamics of laser-pulse-induced plasmas. Through detailed analysis of electron emission, metal screening, and plasma cloud interactions, we investigate the spatial, temporal, and spectral characteristics of the so-generated terahertz fields, which can be extensively controlled through the metal morphology and the illumination conditions. We further describe the interaction with femtosecond electron beams to explain recent ultrafast electron microscopy experiments, whereby the position and temporal dependence of the observed electron acceleration permits assessing the associated terahertz field. Besides its potential application to the design of low-frequency light sources, our work contributes fundamental insight into the generation and dynamics of micron-scale electron plasmas and their interaction with ultrafast electron pulses.

Graphical abstract: Generation and control of localized terahertz fields in photoemitted electron plasmas

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Marts 2023
Accepted
02 Maijs 2023
First published
04 Maijs 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2023,5, 3634-3645

Generation and control of localized terahertz fields in photoemitted electron plasmas

E. J. C. Dias, I. Madan, S. Gargiulo, F. Barantani, M. Yannai, G. M. Vanacore, I. Kaminer, F. Carbone and F. J. García de Abajo, Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 3634 DOI: 10.1039/D3NA00168G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements