Efficient Cherenkov-Type Optical-to-Terahertz Conversion of nJ-Energy Femtosecond Laser Pulses

We demonstrate experimentally that a sandwich-like structure comprising a thin layer of lithium niobate clamped between two Si prisms of total internal reflection can serve as an efficient converter of nJ-energy level laser pulses from a femtosecond optical oscillator to a high-quality beam of broadband terahertz radiation. The converter has an additional advantage of workability at different laser wavelengths.