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The peak frequency of the terahertz radiation generated from the femtosecond laser-induced air plasmas is blue shifted with the increased second harmonics intensity when a high voltage is added upon the air plasmas. This blue shift is the result of the DC-biased field from the high voltage plus the AC-biased field from the second harmonics, indicating that this terahertz radiation frequency peak is tunable by varying the two field components. This tunable frequency peak is significant to various applications such as remote sensing and material characterization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma dynamics in the early stage of laser ablation of a copper target are investigated in real time by making ultrafast electron shadow images and electron deflectometry measurements. These complementary techniques provide both a global view and a local perspective of the associated transient electric field and charge expansion dynamics. The results reveal that the charge cloud above the target surface is composed predominantly of thermally ejected electrons and that it is self-expanding, with a fast front-layer speed exceeding 107 m/s. The average electric field strength of the charge cloud induced by a pump fluence of 2.2 J/cm2 is estimated to be ∼2.4×105 V/m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report ultrafast electron diffuse scattering intensity (DSI) measurement in order to study the structural response of aluminum to femtosecond laser excitation. In this measurement, the evolutions of DSI and Bragg peak intensities after the laser excitation are measured and compared in the time domain. Their differences suggest that two kinds of lattice disorder, short-range and long-range, are triggered simultaneously. The former, induced by electron excitation, arises and decays with a faster rate than the latter which is subject to lattice heating. The results presented show that the time-resolved DSI measurements provide complementary insights to the ultrafast diffraction measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using opened reentrant cone silicon targets, we have demonstrated the effect of micro focusing of fast electrons generated in intense laser-plasma interactions. When an intense femtosecond laser pulse is focused tightly onto one of the side walls of the cone, fast electron beam emitted along the side wall is observed. When a line focus spot, which is long enough to irradiate both of the side walls of the cone simultaneously, is used, two electron beams emitted along each side wall, respectively, are observed. The two beams should cross each other near the open tip of the cone, resulting in micro focusing. We use a two-dimensional Particle-In-Cell code to simulate the electron emission both in opened and closed cone targets. The simulation results of the opened cone targets are in agreement with the experimental observation while the results of the closed cone targets do not show the micro focusing effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]