Theoretical study of the generation of terahertz radiation by the interaction of two laser

beams with graphite nanoparticles

N. Sepehri Javan, and F. Rouhi Erdi

Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 122, 223103 (2017);

View online: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4995510
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/jap/122/22
Published by the American Institute of Physics

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 JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 122, 223103 (2017)

Theoretical study of the generation of terahertz radiation by the interaction

of two laser beams with graphite nanoparticles
N. Sepehri Javana) and F. Rouhi Erdi
Department of Physics, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, P.O. Box 179, Ardabil, Iran
(Received 12 July 2017; accepted 18 November 2017; published online 12 December 2017)
In this theoretical study, we investigate the generation of terahertz radiation by considering the
beating of two similar Gaussian laser beams with different frequencies of x1 and x2 in a spatially
modulated medium of graphite nanoparticles. The medium is assumed to contain spherical graphite
nanoparticles of two different configurations: in the first configuration, the electric fields of the
laser beams are parallel to the normal vector of the basal plane of the graphite structure, whereas in
the second configuration, the electric fields are perpendicular to the normal vector of the basal
plane. The interaction of the electric fields of lasers with the electronic clouds of the nanoparticles
generates a ponderomotive force that in turn leads to the creation of a macroscopic electron current
in the direction of laser polarizations and at the beat frequency x1  x2 , which can generate
terahertz radiation. We show that, when the beat frequency lies near the effective plasmon
frequency of the nanoparticles and the electric fields are parallel to the basal-plane normal, a reso-
nant interaction of the laser beams causes intense terahertz radiation. Published by AIP Publishing.
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4995510

I. INTRODUCTION to affect the THz radiation generated from laser filaments in

The generation of terahertz (THz) radiation has been
one of the most interesting topics of research over the past
few decades because of its numerous important applications
in science and technology. THz radiation lies in the fre-
quency gap between infrared and microwaves and is difficult
to generate efficiently by conventional approaches such as
lasing and masing because of diffraction. The generation of
intense radiation in this frequency domain has many applica-
tions in medical imaging,1–4 information and communication
technology,5,6 spectroscopy,7 material characterization,8–11
explosive detection,12,13 quality control in the food and agri-
culture industry,14,15 etc. Owing to the lack of high-power
sources and suitable detectors in this frequency range, it has
not been possible until recently to obtain intense THz radia-
tion. Over recent years, technological advances in THz fre-
quency generation have accelerated, and various methods
are now available for the generation and detection of THz
radiation. In addition, several applications involving THz
radiation have been developed both theoretically and
experimentally.16,17
The generation of THz waves using a nonlinear medium
such as plasma is one of the most important techniques for
this purpose.18–20 Gildenburg and Vedenski studied the prob-
lem of THz generation based on the ionization-induced exci-
tation of natural plasma oscillations during the propagation
of an ultrashort laser pulse through a pre-produced plasma.21
Malik et al. introduced a theoretical model for the generation
of THz waves which was based on the beating of two
Gaussian laser beams in a collisionless plasma, and Bhasin
et al. extended this approach into a magnetized clustered
plasma.22 In addition, a static electric field has been shown
a)
sepehri_javan@uma.ac.ir
a plasma,23 and the effect of collisions on the efficiency of
THz generation from the beating of two spatial-Gaussian
laser beams has also been considered.24 Finally, the dynam-
ics of THz generation from the beating of two x-mode trian-
gular spatial laser pulses in a rippled magnetized plasma was
also investigated.25
An experimental study of THz generation in multiple
laser-induced air plasmas indicates that the THz radiation is
enhanced by using more than two adjacent air plasmas owing
to the superposition of the fields.26 The generation of THz
radiation from tunnel ionization of a gas jet was analytically
studied by Malik et al.,27 using two short superposed laser
pulses with a finite initial phase difference which are focused
on the medium after travelling through an axicon. A mecha-
nism was proposed for the generation of tunable THz radia-
tion that involves two femtosecond laser pulses and an
external magnetic field and where quick tunnel ionization
leads to higher plasma density and large residual current for
efficient THz generation.28 The resonant generation of THz
radiation by the beating of two spatial-triangular laser beams
has been investigated,29 and the effect of magnetic fields on
the enhancement of THz emission due to the interaction of
super-Gaussian laser beams with a non-collisional plasma
was also studied.30 Laser beams with super-Gaussian profiles
play a significant role in the generation of strong and colli-
mated THz radiation from the unmagnetized noncollisional
plasma.31 The effect of laser polarization on THz generation
from the perpendicular propagation of lasers in a magnetized
plasma has been considered.32 Theoretical investigations
show that THz radiation should be generated with high effi-
ciency by laser beams propagating through a magnetized
electron–positron plasma.33 Other theoretical work looked at
how magnetic fields affect the magnitude of THz emission
generated by the interaction of two super-Gaussian laser

0021-8979/2017/122(22)/223103/7/$30.00 122, 223103-1 Published by AIP Publishing.

223103-2 N. Sepehri Javan and F. Rouhi Erdi
beams with a collisional plasma.34 Recently, the interaction
of linearly polarized cosh-super-Gaussian laser beams with a
corrugated plasma was shown to lead to bifocal THz radia-
tion,35 and recent theoretical36–38 and experimental39–41
studies show that the generation of high-power THz radia-
tion via ionization processes in gases is possible using
weakly relativistic laser beams. Additionally, from relativis-
tic laser-driven electron beams crossing a solid-vacuum
boundary, experiments show that coherent transition radia-
tion is generated in the THz region with sub-millijoule ener-
gies per pulse.42,43
Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) have many fascinating
applications in various areas of science and technology
and especially in the field of nano-optics. They have large
third-order susceptibility near the plasmon frequency,
which makes them interesting for designing nanodevices
that operate beyond the diffraction limit.44–46 Rough calcu-
lations show that the resonance frequency of metallic NPs
is not in the range of THz radiation (for example, t 
2:18  1015 Hz for Au and t  2:61  1015 Hz for Cu). In
the quest for suitable particles, we consider that graphite
NPs are good candidates for our purpose because they
have a relatively low plasmon frequency. Self-focusing in
a bulk medium of magnetized NPs has already been inves-
tigated theoretically,47 and it was shown that graphite NPs
should respond well to external magnetic field enhance-
ment compared with other conventional media such as
plasma. The optical properties of graphite NPs may be
tuned by varying the basal-plane orientation with respect
to the electric field of the incident laser beam. For the par-
allel orientation of the normal vector of the basal plane
with respect to the electric field, the density of conduction
electrons in graphite goes through a minimum, and its
plasmon resonance lies in the THz regime.
The present study explores the generation of THz radia-
tion by the beating of two spatial-Gaussian laser beams in a
bulk medium containing graphite NPs. We consider how var-
ious parameters such as laser frequency, density modulation,
laser intensity, and the distribution of particle geometry
affect the efficiency of THz generation.
II. NONLINEAR CURRENT DENSITY
We consider a bulk medium consisting of graphite nano-
particles with basal planes in two different orientations, i.e.,
Ekc and E?c, where c is the symmetry axis perpendicular to
the given basal plane (i.e., the normal to the plane) and E is
the electric field of the incident radiation. The total macro-
scopic density of nanoparticles is
X 4p
n0 ¼ la n0;a ; (1)
a
3 2
where a ¼ k; ? indicates Ekc or E?c, respectively; 4p la =3
is the ratio of the volume occupied by an a-configured nano-
particle to the volume of empty space of the unit cell,
la ¼ ðra =da Þ3 ; and ra , da , and n0;a are the average radius, sep-
aration, and density of the conduction electrons of a-config-
ured NPs, respectively. We assume that both types of NPs
J. Appl. Phys. 122, 223103 (2017)
are spherical and that the conduction electrons of each NP
are uniformly spread throughout the spherical NP. We fur-
ther assume that the medium is composed of equal amounts
of the two different types of spherical graphite nanoparticles
(i.e., with k and ? orientations of the basal-plane normals
with respect to the electric field of the incident radiation).
Let the macroscopic density of each type of nanoparticle be
modulated in the same fashion as
n0 ¼ nq eiqz ; (2)
where q is the wave number of the density ripple. Note that
such a modulation can occur by using a nozzle through
which graphite nanoparticles flow via a stream of an auxil-
iary background noble gas. For simplicity, we do not label
the nanoparticle configuration (k or ?); this rule will con-
tinue until Eq. (10), which calculates the total macroscopic
current density. Now, suppose that two Gaussian laser beams
simultaneously propagate through this medium, then the
electric field of the laser beams j is
1 2 2
Ej ¼ E0 y^ey =a0 eiðkj zxj tÞ þ c:c:; j ¼ 1; 2; (3)
2
where E0 , y, and a0 are the electric-field amplitude,
Cartesian coordinate, and beam width, respectively. Also,
xj and kj are the frequency and wave number of laser
beam j. The ions in the system are assumed to be immo-
bile during the interaction with high-frequency electromag-
netic (EM) waves, and only the spherical electron cloud of
each NP is assumed to respond to those frequencies. For a
small nonrelativistic NP subject to low-intensity EM fields
and whose radius is much less than the radiation wave-
length (ra  k), the spatial variation of the EM field inside
the particle is negligible, so we can assume that all elec-
trons experience the same force at each moment, so that
the entire electron cloud moves rigidly with no change in
shape. Consequently, the motion of a single electron is the
same as the motion of all the electrons in the electron
cloud. Therefore, the first-order equation of motion of an
electron in the electron cloud of a NP interacting with the
electric field of laser beam j can be written in the nonrela-
tivistic approximation as
dvj x2p e
þ Cvj þ rj ¼  E j ; j ¼ 1; 2; (4)
dt 3 m
where m is the electron mass, C is the damping factor related
to the electron scattering, e is the magnitude of the electron
charge, and xp ¼ ð4pe2 n0 =mÞ1=2 is the plasma frequency. In
solving Eq. (4), one can derive the following oscillatory
velocity for the electrons due to the interaction with each
laser beam:
2
ixj eE0 ey =a0  
vj ¼ exp iðkj z  xj tÞ þ c:c:;
2 2
2mðxj þ iCxj  xp =3Þ
j ¼ 1; 2: ð5Þ
The nonlinear interaction of laser beams with the NPs causes
a ponderomotive force to be exerted on the conduction elec-
trons at the beat frequency x ¼ x1  x2 and with beat-wave
223103-3 N. Sepehri Javan and F. Rouhi Erdi J. Appl. Phys. 122, 223103 (2017)

number k ¼ k1  k2 . We can obtain the ponderomotive force

through the ponderomotive potential /p ¼ mv1 :v2 =2e22
x1 x2 e2 E20
f NL
p ¼
8m   
4y 2 2
^
y  ik^
z e2y =a0
a20
  
2
x2p 2
x2p
x1 þ iCx1  x2  iCx2 
3 3
½ ð Þ 
 exp i kz  x t þ c:c: (6)
Taking into account the ponderomotive force, the equation
of motion is
NL
@ 2 DNL @DNL x2p NL f p
þ C  D ¼ ; (7)
@t2 @t 3 m
where DNL is the displacement of electrons subjected to the FIG. 1. Schematic representation of the geometry of the system containing
ponderomotive force. Thus, the nonlinear velocity of the randomly distributed graphite NPs with two different orientations of the
electrons is basal-plane normal.

2 2
ie2 E20 yx1 x2 x e2y =a0 exp ½iðkz  x tÞ
vNL
y ¼
    þ c:c: (8)
x2p x2p x2p
2m2 a20 2
x1 þ iCx1  2
x2  iCx2  2
x þ iCx 
3 3 3
All equations derived describe the nonlinear dynamics of an NP that interacts with two laser beams. Our system consists of two
different types of particles, namely, nanographite oriented parallel (subscript k ) or perpendicular (subscript ?) to the electric
field, so we should consider the contribution of all particles to derive the nonlinear macroscopic current density. The result is
 
X 4p 2p X
2 2
inq e3 E20 yx1 x2 xe2y =a0 exp ½iðk þ qÞz  ixt
J NL
¼ la en0 vNL
y ¼ la     þ c:c:
a
3 3 a x2p;a x2p;a x2p;a (9)
2 2 2
m a0 x1 þ iCa x1  2
x2  iCa x2  2
x þ iCa x 
3 3 3

To clarify the situation, Fig. 1 shows a schematic representa- calculate eeff , we use the Maxwell–Garnett theory and only
tion of the geometry of the system, which contains the ran- take into account the permittivity of the bound electrons of
domly distributed graphite NPs with two different the graphite NPs because the contribution of the conduction
orientations of the basal plane. electrons has already been considered in the nonlinear cur-
rent density. The effective permittivity of the medium is
III. THz GENERATION derived in detail in the next section. Taking the divergence
Combining Maxwell’s equations, one obtains the fol- of Eq. (10), we obtain the following expression for the THz
lowing wave equation for THz radiation produced by the radiation field:
beat-wave of two laser beams 4pi
4pix x2 E¼ JNL : (11)
r2 E þ $ð$  EÞ ¼ 2 JNL þ eeff E; (10) xeeff ðxÞ
c c
where eeff is the effective electric permittivity of the Substituting Eq. (9) into Eq. (11) yields the following
medium that contains two types of graphite NPs. To expression for the normalized THz radiation field:

  2y2
nq;a 2
  la x2p;a x1 x2 eE0 ye a0 exp ½iðk þ qÞz  ixt
 E0y  2p X n0;a
      þ c:c:
E ¼ 3 x 2
x 2
x 2
(12)
0 a p;a p;a p;a
meeff a20 x21 þ iCa x1  x22  iCa x2  x2 þ iCa x 
3 3 3

Note that the theoretical model used here appears simi- generation driven by a laser beat wave in clustered plasmas.
lar to those used in Refs. 24 and 25, which consider THz However, in spite of the similarities, some crucial
223103-4 N. Sepehri Javan and F. Rouhi Erdi
differences exist. In a clustered plasma, nonlinearity is
caused by the free electrons in the plasma, whereas here the
nonlinearity is caused by the conduction electrons of neutral
graphite NPs. Here, because graphite NPs are nonisotropic,
the orientation of the NP basal plane is an important factor in
the nonlinearity. In addition, we consider herein all energy-
loss mechanisms through the damping factor Ca , which is
determined from empirical data. In most of the studies men-
tioned above related to clustered plasmas, the damping of
electrons was ignored. Furthermore, in the present study, the
effect of the nonconducting or bound electrons of the back-
ground medium is included by considering the effective
permittivity.
IV. EFFECTIVE PERMITTIVITY OF THE MEDIUM
We now calculate the effective permittivity of a back-
ground dielectric medium with permittivity eh that contains
our two different types of graphite NPs. We use the
Maxwell–Garnett method48 to calculate the effective permit-
tivity. Toward this end, first we determine the permittivity of
an individual graphite nanoparticle. The contribution of con-
duction electrons to the nanoparticle permittivity was already
considered for the nonlinear current density, so we need not
consider those electrons when calculating the permittivity of
the graphite NPs. From the Drude model and considering
only the relatively free conduction electrons of a graphite
bulk medium, the permittivity can be written as
x2p
ef ¼ 1  : (13)
ðx 2 þ iCxÞ
To consider the contribution of bound electrons, a new term
eb should be added to Eq. (13). Also, because of the restora-
tion force that appears in the case of NPs with limited dimen-
2 ; (17)
sions, the term x2p =3 must be added to the denominator.
Therefore, we obtain the following expression for the permit-
tivity of an individual nanoparticle:
2 : (18)
x2p?; k
e?; k ¼ eb?;k þ 1  : (14)
x2p?; k
x2 þ iC?; k x 
3
We use previous experimental49 and theoretical data50 to
determine eb?;k , xp?; k , and C?; k . Note that the different val-
ues for the plasma frequency of the conduction electrons in
graphite are related to the anisotropy of the medium that
exhibits itself in the optical spectra related to the excitation of
valence band electrons because distinct selection rules govern
the transitions between the (bonding) valence band and the
(anti-bonding) conduction band.51 For example, if the
electric-field vector E is polarized perpendicularly to the c
axis (E?c), only p ! p and r ! r transitions are allowed
in the dipole approximation, whereas for the parallel case
(Ekc), only p ! r and r ! p transitions are allowed.52,53
The Maxwell–Garnett approach can be used to calculate
the effective dielectric coefficient of the nanocomposite
graphite material. For a host medium with dielectric constant
eh that includes two different contributions e1 and e2 , the
J. Appl. Phys. 122, 223103 (2017)
effective dielectric constant eeff of the medium can be calcu-
lated from
eeff  eh e1  eh e2  eh
¼ f1 þ f2 ; (15)
eeff þ 2eh e1 þ 2eh e2 þ 2eh
where f1 ¼ 4p l1 =3 and f2 ¼ 4p l2 =3 are the fill factors (i.e.,
the volume fraction occupied by an inclusion) and l1 ¼
ðrc1 =d1 Þ3 and l2 ¼ ðrc2 =d2 Þ3 , where rc1 and rc2 are the aver-
age radii of NPs and d1 and d2 are the average separation of
two identical NPs. We now suppose that the first type of par-
ticle consists of graphite NPs whose basal-plane normals are
perpendicular to the electric field (i.e., E?c), and the second
type of particle consists of graphite NPs whose basal-plane
normals are parallel to the electric field (i.e., Ekc). As men-
tioned above, we consider only the contribution to the per-
mittivity from bound electrons and set e1 ¼ eb? and e2 ¼ ebk .
Considering electron scattering in the equation of
motion for electrons leads to the appearance of an imaginary
component in the permittivity of an individual NP, which in
turn leads to the absorption of EM waves in the NPs. The
laser power absorbed by a NP can be expressed as
Pabs ¼ rabs I0 , where rabs is the absorption cross section of
the particle and I0 is the laser intensity. Using Mie theory54
for particles much smaller than the wavelength, the absorp-
tion cross section is
x e00
rabs ¼ 12prc3 ; (16)
c ðe0 þ 2Þ2 þ e00 2
where ek;? ¼ e0 þ ie00 is the permittivity of graphite NPs with
the given orientation. The real and imaginary parts can be
derived from Eq. (14) as
4pl x2pk;? x2  x2pk;? =3
k;? k;?
e0 ¼ 1 þ eb 
3 x2  x2 =3 þ x2 C2
pk;? k;?
4plk;? x2pk;? xCk;?
e00 ¼
3 x2  x2pk;? =3 þ x2 C2k;?
V. NUMERICAL DISCUSSION
As already mentioned, the density of free electrons and
the damping factor can vary as a function of the orientation of
the basal planes. Based on the theoretical and experimental
results of Refs. 45 and 46, we obtain the following parameters
for NPs with basal-plane normals oriented parallel and per-
pendicular to the electric field: xpk  1:5  1014 s1 ,
xp?  1:4  1015 s1 , Ck  1014 s1 , and C?  1015 s1 . To
estimate the parameter la , we consider NPs with radius
ra ¼ 30 nm. For da ¼ 2ra ; 3ra ; 4ra , the calculated values for
la are 0.125, 0.037, and 0.016, respectively. The first case
(la ¼ 0:125) is related to the kissing contact of two NPs. We
suppose that the morphological situation of the medium for
two different sorts of graphite NPs is the same (i.e., rk
¼ r? ¼ r and dk ¼ d? ¼ d, so lk ¼ l? ¼ l). We set the wave-
length of the first laser to 9:9 lm (the equivalent frequency is
1:9  1014 s1 ), which is available from a CO2 gas laser. In
all of the figures below, we analyze the variations in the
223103-5 N. Sepehri Javan and F. Rouhi Erdi
FIG. 2. Normalized THz radiation field as a function of normalized THz fre-
quency for three different values of the normalized ripple amplitude with
y ¼ 0:9a0 , I ¼ 1015 W=cm2 , dk ¼ d? ¼ 5rc , and a0 ¼ 0:05 mm.
generated THz frequency for x2 =xp;k ¼ 0:3, from which we
can find the values of the optical parameters for graphite NPs.
Figure 2 shows the normalized radiation field as a func-
tion of normalized THz frequency for three different values
of normalized ripple-density amplitude when y ¼ 0:9a0 ,
I ¼ 1015 W=cm2 , d ¼ 5r, and a0 ¼ 50 lm. In all cases, we
see that two maxima appear for the generated THz amplitude
near the frequency t  12 :40 THz where the frequency of
the second laser beam coincides with the following values:
pffiffiffi
pffiffiffi
cific volume, which relates directly to the macroscopic cur-
x2  1:25 xp;k = 3 ; 0:78 xp;k = 3 . In Eq. (12), the
denominator becomes small when x1 , x2 , and x approach
pffiffiffi
6xp;a = 3, which can be called the plasmon resonance.
However, because of the imaginary terms related to the
damping mechanisms of electrons and the nonlinear depen-
dence of the effective permittivity eeff on the frequency,
these maxima are displaced. In fact, for these maxima,
pffiffiffi
function of the transverse distance from the z axis for differ-
x2 ¼ 6 xp;k = 3 þ DxðCðx2 ÞÞ, and the approximate fre-
pffiffiffi
quency shift is 0:2 xp;k = 3 . At the main resonance in the
THz regime, the angular frequency of the second laser is
positive and both lasers propagate in the same direction.
Additionally, for this case, the beat wave itself is in reso-
pffiffiffi
nance, and we obtain x ¼ x1  x2  0:95xp;k = 3. For the
second-smallest maximum, x2 is negative, which means that
the second laser propagates in the direction opposite that of
the first laser. This frequency range is slightly outside the
FIG. 3. Normalized THz radiation field as a function of normalized THz fre-
quency for three different values of laser intensity with y ¼ 0:9a0 ,
ðnq =n0 Þk ¼ ðnq =n0 Þ? ¼ 0:3, dk ¼ d? ¼ 5rc , and a0 ¼ 0:05 mm.
J. Appl. Phys. 122, 223103 (2017)
FIG. 4. Normalized THz radiation field as a function of normalized THz fre-
quency for three different values of particle separation with y ¼ 0:9a0 ,
ðnq =n0 Þk ¼ ðnq =n0 Þ? ¼ 0:3, I ¼ 1015 W=cm2 , and a0 ¼ 50 lm.
THz range. In addition, the increase in density modulation
leads to an increase in THz amplitude.
In Fig. 3, we plot the normalized THz amplitude as a
function of generated THz frequency for three different laser
intensities. The increase in laser intensity clearly leads to a
substantial increase in the THz amplitude. Figure 4 shows
the normalized variations in THz amplitude as a function of
THz frequency for three different particle separations. The
increase in separation reduces the number of NPs in a spe-
rent created by the motion of the conduction electrons and,
consequently, leads to a decrease in the amplitude of the gen-
erated THz radiation.
Figure 5 shows how the width of the laser beam affects
THz generation. A decrease in the beam width causes an
increase in THz amplitude because of the increase in laser
intensity. Figure 6 shows the normalized THz amplitude as a
ent amplitudes of the normalized density ripple. In this case,
we set x1 ¼ 1:9  1014 s1 (k1 ¼ 9:91 lm) and x2 ¼
1:8  1014 s1 (k2 ¼ 10:4 lm), which in practice are avail-
able from CO2 and N2O gas lasers, respectively. A maximum
THz amplitude is observed at y  0:7a0 for all cases because
the radiation power depends on the transverse coordinate as
follows: a1 2
0 ðy=a0 Þ exp ½2ðy=a0 Þ . The maximum THz
amplitude increases with the increasing amplitude of the rip-
ple density. To combine the results of the previous figures,
Fig. 7 shows in a three-dimensional plot the normalized THz
FIG. 5. Normalized THz radiation field as a function of normalized THz fre-
quency for three different values of the beam width with y ¼ 0:9a0 ,
ðnq =n0 Þk ¼ ðnq =n0 Þ? ¼ 0:3, I ¼ 1015 W=cm2 , and dk ¼ d? ¼ 5rc .
223103-6 N. Sepehri Javan and F. Rouhi Erdi
FIG. 6. Normalized THz radiation field as a function of transverse distance
from the z axis for three different values of normalized ripple amplitude with
a0 ¼ 50 lm, I ¼ 1015 W=cm2 , x1 ¼ 1:9  1014 s1 , x2 ¼ 1:8  1014 s1 ,
and dk ¼ d? ¼ 5rc .
amplitude as a function of the transverse distance from the z
axis and of normalized THz frequency. Consistent with pre-
vious results, the best situation
pffiffiffi for THz generation is when
x ¼ x1  x2  0:95xp;k = 3 and y  0:7a0 . We see that,
similar to the plasma medium,21–35 here resonance also
occurs when the beat-wave frequency approaches one of the
effective plasmon frequencies of the graphite NPs.
Numerous similarities exist between the plasma and a
medium containing NPs when they are used as the active
medium for THz generation. For the medium containing
NPs, the effective plasmon frequency of the NPs, which
reflects the collective behavior of the system, plays the same
role as the plasma frequency.
Finally, note that our proposed formalism generates a
THz field amplitude that is one or two orders of magnitude
less than that of some other mechanisms that use a plasma
medium.18–35 However, in most of these methods, the loss
mechanisms that attenuate the THz amplitude are ignored.
Considering such mechanisms becomes more important near
the resonance frequency. To attain high-amplitude THz radi-
ation, laser frequencies are chosen around the plasma fre-
quency, which is where the loss mechanisms should be
considered. Several related studies23,24 consider the effect on
THz radiation of electron collision with neutral components.
Here, we consider all related loss mechanisms via the param-
eter C, which is related to experimental data, thereby making
our work more realistic. Furthermore, if a practical method
can be found to increase the number of NPs oriented with
FIG. 7. Normalized THz radiation field as a function of the transverse dis-
tance from the z axis and of normalized THz frequency with
ðnq =n0 Þk ¼ ðnq =n0 Þ? ¼ 0:3, I ¼ 1015 W=cm2 , and dk ¼ d? ¼ 5rc .
J. Appl. Phys. 122, 223103 (2017)
the basal-plane normal parallel to the electric field, then the
THz power would increase substantially.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
We have herein investigated the generation of THz radi-
ation by the beat wave of two Gaussian laser beams in a
medium that contains conducting nanoparticles. The calcula-
tions indicate that the best candidate for THz production is a
graphite NP composite where one of the plasmon resonance
frequencies is in the THz region. The maximum power of
THz radiation occurs at the frequency t  12 THz.
Increasing the ripple density and intensity of the laser beams
leads to a substantial increase in the THz-field amplitude. In
addition, the THz-field amplitude can be increased by
decreasing the average NP separation. The maximum THz
wave intensity occurs at the transverse distance of 0:7a0 ,
where a0 is the beam width.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to express their sincere gratitude to Dr.
A. Tavana, Assistant Professor of the University of
Mohaghegh Ardabili, and Dr. R. Shekasteband, Assistant
Professor of the University of Florida, for their efforts in
editing this manuscript. In addition, we would like to thank
the respectful reviewers for their valuable comments and
suggestions, which helped to improve and clarify this work.
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