Strategies for High Efficiency, High Energy, Multi-cycle THz-wave Generation

Electromagnetic waves with frequencies in the THz range have been of technological relevance for decades for a number of applications ranging from imaging to spectroscopy.Most of these applications place modest requirements on energy and control of the millimeter wave electromagnetic field and therefore progress toward the generation of high energy, multi-cycle THz-frequency pulses have shown only modest advances. Over the past few years however, the potential of high energy, field controlled THz-frequency waves for the acceleration of charged particles has been recognized, offering promising outlooks towards tabletop X-ray sources. Successful electron acceleration has been experimentally demonstrated using modest — microjoule level — THz-frequency wave sources