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

技术的不连续性为那些能够迅速利用它们的人提供了新的机会。在目前的项目中，我们建议利用我们在强太赫兹（THz）科学和技术方面的两个最新发现。首先是（i）来自强中红外（MIR）激光泵浦的空气等离子体的强THz辐射。特别是，我们已经证明了（2012年1月）使用这种新的空气等离子体方案在焦点处的5 MV/cm峰值电场和0.1%的转换效率，这一基本结果可以开辟大量突破性的新应用。其中第二个发现是，（ii）我们观察到了强太赫兹触发的氮激光，可能能够克服太赫兹吸收空气湿度，一个长期滞后的问题，到目前为止，阻碍了远程无损检测（NDT）的距离。这些科学发现将使几家加拿大公司能够大大提高其产品的性能，使其在国际竞争对手中具有明显的优势。

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.