Terahertz-Pulse Emission Through Laser Excitation of Surface Plasmons in a Metal Grating
Abstract
The second-order processes of optical-rectification and photoconduction are well known and widely used to produce ultrafast electromagnetic pulses in the terahertz frequency domain. We present a new form of rectification that relies on the excitation of surface plasmons in metal films deposited on a shallow grating. Multiphoton ionization and ponderomotive acceleration of electrons in the enhanced evanescent field of the surface plasmons results in a femtosecond current surge and emission of terahertz electromagnetic radiation. Using gold, this rectification process is third or higher-order in the incident field.
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A cut-wire resonator with an inversion center is expected to produce no optical rectification and no THz generation unless by other mechanisms such as near-field ponderomotive acceleration of surface-plasmon-assisted out-of-plane photoelectrons through multiphoton absorption.
“As the cut-wire resonator (Fig. 9c1) exhibits a symmetry with an inversion center, no optical rectification and THz generation is expected (due to cancellation as shown in Fig. 9c1 and discussed below), unless by other mechanisms such as near-field ponderomotive acceleration of surface-plasmon-assisted out-of-plane photoelectrons through multiphoton absorption175,203.”
From Ultrafast terahertz emission from emerging symmetry-broken materials (2023) · cites this paper as [175]
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 [175]
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References 21 · Cited by 122
- Authors
- Welsh, G. H., Hunt, N. T., & Wynne, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Strathclyde (GB)
- Venue
- Physical Review Letters
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Published
- 2007-01-10
- Volume
- 98
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 026803-026803
- ISSN
- 0031-9007 (ISSN-L)
- 1079-7114
- OpenAlex
- W2532554096
- Cited by
- 122
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 5.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Physical Review Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (submittedVersion)
- Strathprints: The University of Strathclyde institutional repository (University of Strathclyde) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (GR/S95510/01, GR/S75369/01)
- 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 pulse generation, surface plasmons, metallic gratings, optical rectification, multiphoton ionization, ponderomotive acceleration, evanescent field, gold, higher-order nonlinear optics
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