A study on angular distribution of THz radiation driven by two-colour laser-induced microplasma

We present an analytical method to study the angular distribution of THz radiation driven by two-colour laser-induced microplasma in nitrogen gas. Directionally dependent temporal waveforms of the radiated THz pulse is calculated. To do so, we have extended the photo-current model to calculate three-dimensional distribution of the photo-induced current from which the far-field THz radiation is computed. We have also studied the effect of optical polarization state and phase difference on the angular distribution of radiation. Our study shows that for two orthogonally-polarized colours, not only THz polarization state, but also the angular distribution of THz radiation is mostly influenced by the second optical harmonic. The possibility of rotating the angular radiation pattern around the axis of the laser propagation is illustrated for circularly-polarized laser drivers by changing the optical phase difference.

Automated summary

We propose an analytical method to study the angular distribution of THz radiation generated by two-colour laser-induced microplasma in nitrogen gas. The directionally dependent temporal waveforms of the radiated THz pulse are calculated by extending the photo-current model. We also investigate the influence of optical polarization state and phase difference on the angular distribution of radiation.