Dynamically phase-matched terahertz generation

Opt Lett. 2012 Mar 15;37(6):1047-9. doi: 10.1364/OL.37.001047.

Abstract

We present the generation of intense terahertz pulses by optical rectification of 780 nm pulses in a large area gallium phosphide crystal. The velocity mismatch between optical and terahertz pulses thereby limits the bandwidth of the terahertz pulses. We show that this limitation can be overcome by a dynamic modification of the refractive index of the gallium phosphide crystal through generation of hot phonons. This is confirmed by excellent agreement between experimental results and model calculations.