A novel laser based high-power terahertz source

We report the experimental realization of a gigawatt (GW) class T-rays from a laser-driven particle accelerator. The space time integrated energy was measured using a calibrated thermal detector, recording T-ray pulses with peak energy no less than 700 μJ. A conversion efficiency higher than 10
^-3
and a peak power above a GW makes our source the most efficient, compact and powerful THz source known today. The THz source has been characterized in detail. The spatial-temporal properties of the THz pulse were carried out by an angular scan and a single-shot electro-optic method.