Demonstration of sub-luminal propagation of single-cycle terahertz pulses for particle acceleration

D. A. Walsh, D. S. Lake, E. W. Snedden, M. J. Cliffe, D. M. Graham and S. P. Jamison ()
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D. A. Walsh: Science and Technology Facilities Council, Daresbury Laboratory
D. S. Lake: Sci-Tech Daresbury
E. W. Snedden: Science and Technology Facilities Council, Daresbury Laboratory
M. J. Cliffe: Sci-Tech Daresbury
D. M. Graham: Sci-Tech Daresbury
S. P. Jamison: Science and Technology Facilities Council, Daresbury Laboratory

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The sub-luminal phase velocity of electromagnetic waves in free space is generally unobtainable, being closely linked to forbidden faster than light group velocities. The requirement of sub-luminal phase-velocity in laser-driven particle acceleration schemes imposes a limit on the total acceleration achievable in free space, and necessitates the use of dispersive structures or waveguides for extending the field-particle interaction. We demonstrate a travelling source approach that overcomes the sub-luminal propagation limits. The approach exploits ultrafast optical sources with slow group velocity propagation, and a group-to-phase front conversion through nonlinear optical interaction. The concept is demonstrated with two terahertz generation processes, nonlinear optical rectification and current-surge rectification. We report measurements of longitudinally polarised single-cycle electric fields with phase and group velocity between 0.77c and 1.75c. The ability to scale to multi-megavolt-per-metre field strengths is demonstrated. Our approach paves the way towards the realisation of cheap and compact particle accelerators with femtosecond scale control of particles.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00490-y

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