Generation of ultrafast terahertz radiation pulses on metallic nanostructured surfaces

A resonant "incoherent" rectification process is presented relying on the excitation of surface plasmons on a nanostructured metal surface. Excitation of gold and silver films with 800-nm femtosecond laser pulses results in the emission of terahertz radiation with an angle-dependent effici...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOptics express Vol. 17; no. 4; p. 2470
Main Authors Welsh, Gregor H., Wynne, Klaas
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 16.02.2009
Subjects
Computer Simulation
Gold - chemistry
Infrared Rays
Microwaves
Models, Chemical
Nanostructures - chemistry
Nanostructures - ultrastructure
Silver - chemistry
Surface Plasmon Resonance - methods
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Summary:A resonant "incoherent" rectification process is presented relying on the excitation of surface plasmons on a nanostructured metal surface. Excitation of gold and silver films with 800-nm femtosecond laser pulses results in the emission of terahertz radiation with an angle-dependent efficiency and an approximately third-order power dependence. It is shown that the source of this terahertz pulse generation is the surface-plasmon-assisted multiphoton ionization and ponderomotive acceleration in the evanescent field of the surface plasmon. Simple models are used to understand the forces and dynamics near the surface.
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ISSN:1094-4087
1094-4087
DOI:10.1364/OE.17.002470