THz (terahertz) waves have a wide range of important applications in science and technology, but solid-state-based generation of intense THz waves is quite limited. One of methods for generation of intense THz pulses is using a fs laser and plasma. In fact, a strong THz pulse can be generated by focusing an intense fs laser pulse in gas. In our laboratory, we produced intense THz pulses using several methods with a single laser pulse or two laser pulses of different wavelengths. The generated THz pulse forms were diagnosed by THz-TDS (THz time-domain-spectroscopy) and/or a spectral-encoding-based single-shot method. Furthermore, we used the broadband THz pulses for plasma diagnostics. In this experiment, the THz pulses were sent through an inductively-coupled plasma and the transmitted THz wave pulses were analyzed for phase shift. In this way, we obtained the plasma density information successfully, which can be applied for a wide range of plasma density diagnostics. In this talk, those details for laser-plasma-based THz wave generation and applications will be presented.
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