Subpicosecond terahertz radiation with an electric field above 1 MV/cm: interaction with condensed matter and its applications

Abstract

Terahertz technology related to generation and detection of terahertz radiation, as well as its interaction with matter has been gaining much attention making it one of the most attractive research fields in turn of the 21st century and covering such major sectors as the semiconductor, medical, space and defense industries. With the advent of intense terahertz sources providing subpicosecond terahertz pulses with photon energies of 0.4–40 meV and maximum field strengths greater than 1 MV/cm, nonlinear effect studies of matter are now available. High-power terahertz sources open up a range of potential applications both in characterization and controlling of solid-state material properties that are elusive for other frequency domains. Recently, a new high-power terahertz source with a record-breaking electric field strength up to 100 MV/cm in the 0.1–5 THz range has been developed at JIHT RAS. In this paper, recent advances in terahertz technology related to intense terahertz field-matter interactions at field strengths above 1 MV/cm are discussed for the first time.