Wakefield stimulated terahertz radiation from a plasma grating

Abstract When a short laser pulse propagates in a corrugated plasma, its wakefield interacts with the density and electric field ripples of the plasma. In the present paper, the modulation of the plasma originates from two counter-propagating long laser pulses, i.e. the corrugated plasma can be as- sumed as a so called plasma grating. PIC (particle in cell) simulations show electromagnetic wave radiation at a frequency just above the plasma frequency when the wakefield interacts with the grating. An electromagnetic instability is proposed as the reason for the emission process. The electrostatic driver of the electromagnetic instability is the beat of wake and grating. That beat mode possess large wavenumber (originating from the small grating wavelength) and small fre- quency (of the order of the plasma frequency) when one concentrates on small ratios of the plasma modulation length to the wavelength of the wakefield. The latter situation occurs when the long laser pulses (which generate the grating) as well as the short laser pulse (which drives the wakefield) have similar frequency ω0 ≫ ωpe where ωpe is the plasma frequency. The coherent volume emission process lasts for a while. It is finally superseded by terahertz transition radiation at the boundaries of the original grating.