Up to now, full tunability of waveforms was possible only in electronics, up to radio-frequencies. Here we propose a new concept of producing few-cycle terahertz (THz) pulses with widely tunable waveforms. It is based on control of the phase delay between different parts of the THz wavefront using linear diffractive optical elements. Suitable subcycle THz wavefronts can be generated via coherent excitation of nonlinear low-frequency oscillators by few-cycle optical pulses. Using this approach it is possible to shape the electric field rather than the slow pulse envelope, obtaining, for instance, rectangular or triangular waveforms in the THz range. The method is upscalable to the optical range if the attosecond pump pulses are used.

Original languageEnglish
Article number7444
Pages (from-to)7444
Number of pages12
JournalScientific Reports
Volume9
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 May 2019

    Research areas

  • NONLINEAR RESPONSE, THZ PULSES, GENERATION, UNIPOLAR, SPECTROSCOPY, EXCITATION, EMISSION, SOLITONS

    Scopus subject areas

  • General

ID: 42553459