Among many types of THz radiation sources, laser-plasma-based ones have strong advantages in field strength (~ GV/m), high power (~ MW), and high frequency (>1 THz). On the other hand, the laser equipment is not that portable, and THz wave from laser-plasma is typically a wide-band, short pulse. Thus it is most suitable for scientific purposes such as THz-pump and laser-probe experiments for phonon excitation, or lattice control in superconductor. In CPL, we devised a new scheme to generate a strong, and much more monochromatic THz pulses than any conventional source. Such a 'monochromatic' but still strong THz pulse is expected to open a new regime of pump-probe experiments, and other chemical and physical applications. The idea is related with the selectively enhanced pumping (SEP), which has been identified for the first time in CPL, and is still under progress. The key idea is more or less confidential, but a piece of basic idea can be found in our recent publication in New J. Physics.
Pulse compression research