Terahertz field induced near-cutoff even-order harmonics in femtosecond laser

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a terahertz field influences high-order harmonic generation in femtosecond lasers, revealing a proportional relationship and providing a new method for broadband THz pulse characterization.

Contribution

It analytically demonstrates the formation of near-cutoff even-order harmonics induced by THz fields and clarifies the conditions for their occurrence, offering a novel time-resolved THz field detection technique.

Findings

Near-cutoff even-order harmonics are proportional to the THz electric field.

Analytical expressions for THz-induced harmonics are derived for continuous wave and Gaussian pulses.

The study proposes a robust method for broadband THz pulse characterization.

Abstract

High-order harmonic generation by femtosecond laser pulse in the presence of a moderately strong terahertz (THz) field is studied under the strong field approximation, showing a simple proportionality of near-cutoff even-order harmonic (NCEH) amplitude to the THz electric field. The formation of the THz induced-NCEHs is analytically shown for both continuous wave and Gaussian pulse. The perturbation analysis with regard to the frequency ratio of the THz field to the femtosecond pulse shows the THz-induced NCEHs originates from its first-order correction, and the available parametric conditions for the phenomenon is also clarified. As the complete characterization of the time-domain waveform of broadband THz field is essential for a wide variety of applications, the work provides an alternative time-resolved field-detection technique, allowing for a robust broadband characterization of pulses in THz spectral range.