Terahertz brightness at the extreme: demonstration of 5 GV/m, 17 T low frequency {\lambda}3 terahertz bullet

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a groundbreaking terahertz source with unprecedented brightness and field strength, achieving a 3D confined light bullet at sub-5 THz, surpassing previous systems and enabling new nonlinear applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel terahertz wavefront manipulation technique that achieves a 3D confined light bullet with record brightness and field strength in the sub-5 THz range.

Findings

Achieved 5 GV/m peak electric field and 17 T magnetic field.

Confined terahertz energy to lambda cubic volume.

Generated terahertz brightness of 40 PW/m2.

Abstract

The brightness of a light source defines its applicability to nonlinear phenomena in science. Bright low frequency terahertz (< 5THz) radiation confined to a diffraction-limited spot size is a present hurdle due to the broad bandwidth and long wavelengths associated with single-cycle terahertz pulses as well as due to the lack of terahertz wavefront correctors. Here, using a present-technology system, we employ a new concept of terahertz wavefront manipulation and focusing optimization. We demonstrate a spatio-temporal confinement of terahertz energy at its physical limits to the least possible 3-dimensional light bullet volume of lambda cubic. This leads to a new regime of extremely bright terahertz radiation reaching 40 PW/m2 intensity. The presented work is focused on the sub-5 THz range using small aperture organic crystals DSTMS and OH1. The obtained peak field of up to 5 GV/m and 17 Tesla is order of magnitude higher than any reported single-cycle field oscillation in the entire THz range from a laser-based system and surpassing large scale accelerator systems. The presented results are foreseen to have a great impact on future nonlinear terahertz applications in different science disciplines.