Air-plasma-based THz technologies pumped by intense mid-infrared lasers: advancing innovations in manufacturing

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Discontinuities in technology open new opportunities for those who can exploit them quickly. In the current project, we propose to capitalize on two of our most recent discoveries in intense terahertz (THz) science and technology. First is (i) intense THz radiation from air plasma pumped by intense mid-infrared (MIR) lasers. In particular, we have demonstrated (January 2012) a record 5 MV/cm peak electric field at focus and 0.1% conversion efficiency using this new air-plasma scheme, a fundamental result that can open up a plethora of groundbreaking new applications. Among those is the second finding, where (ii) we observed intense-THz-triggered nitrogen lasing, potentially capable of overcoming THz absorption by air humidity, a long lagging problem which has so far hampered remote non-destructive testing (NDT) at a distance. These scientific findings will allow several Canadian companies to improve considerably the performance of their products, giving them significant advantage over their international competitors.