Emission of terahertz pulses from nanostructured metal surfaces
Open accessAbstract
When (nanostructured) metals, such as gold and silver, are illuminated with laser pulses having a duration in the femtosecond range, they can emit pulses of THz light. Most of these experiments have been performed using amplified lasers, giving rise to energy densities on the sample on the order of mJ cm −2 . The results of the different experiments are surprisingly inconsistent in both the measurements of the THz fluence as a function of laser fluence and in the interpretation of the results. This paper reviews the current state of affairs of this interesting topic and discusses some effects related to surface preparation that may influence the emission THz light on metals, particularly silver and copper. We also show results of measurements on nanostructured metals using unamplified laser pulses, which emphasize the role played by plasmons in the generation of THz light. When increasing the optical energy density on a specially nanostructured sample, we observe a transition from a 'classical' second-order non-linear optical process to a higher-order process as the source of the THz radiation. This supports recent results on a differently structured metal by Polyushkin et al (2014 Phys. Rev. B 89 125426 ), who also observe two different power regimes when decreasing the intensity coming from the high energy density side.
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Nanoscale structuring of metal films enhances THz emission.
“subsequent investigations found enhanced THz emission due to nanoscale structuring, including with gratings175–177, randomly-distributed nanostructuring178–182, and precision lithographically-defined nanostructure arrays159,178 (Fig. 8a).”
From Ultrafast terahertz emission from emerging symmetry-broken materials (2023) · cites this paper as [177]
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- Authors
- Ramanandan, G. K. P., Ramakrishnan, G., Kumar, N., Adam, A. J. L., & Planken, P. C. M.
- Affiliations
- Delft University of Technology (NL)
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Planken, P C M
- Venue
- Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Published
- 2014-08-28
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 37
- Pages
- 374003
- ISSN
- 0022-3727 (ISSN-L)
- 1361-6463
- OpenAlex
- W2036111801
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 1.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Physics D Applied Physics (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Terahertz technology and applications
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research
- Keywords
- terahertz emission, nanostructured metals, plasmons, femtosecond pulses, gold, silver, copper, surface preparation, higher-order nonlinear optics, second-order nonlinear optics
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