Enhanced coherent transition radiation from midinfrared-laser-driven microplasmas.

We present a particle-in-cell (PIC) analysis of terahertz (THz) radiation by ultrafast plasma currents driven by relativistic-intensity laser pulses. We show that, while the I [Formula: see text] product of the laser intensity I and the laser wavelength λ plays the key role in the energy scaling of strong-field laser-plasma THz generation, the THz output energy, W, does not follow the I [Formula: see text] scaling. Its behavior as a function of I and λ is instead much more complex.

Chirp-controlled high-harmonic and attosecond-pulse generation via coherent-wake plasma emission driven by mid-infrared laser pulses.

Coherent-wake plasma emission induced by ultrashort mid-infrared laser pulses on a solid target is shown to give rise to high-brightness, high-order harmonic radiation, offering a promising source of attosecond pulses and a probe for ultrafast subrelativistic plasma dynamics. With 80-fs, 0.2-TW pulses of 3.