Comparative Study on efficient THz Generation in the organic Crystal DAST driven by mid-IR Pulses

Due to numerous unique properties, such as the capability of resonantly exciting crystal lattice vibrations, molecular rotations and other low energy transitions in solids, liquids and gases, terahertz radiation belongs to one of the most interesting but yet less explored spectral regions. Recently, a considerable progress has been demonstrated in THz generation by optical rectification (OR) in organic crystals, conventionally driven by near-IR fs-pulses centred at the telecommunication wavelength of 1.5 µm. Although high optical- to THz conversion efficiencies of 1-3% with pulse energies of up to 0.9 mJ [1] can be achieved, the conversion efficiency is nevertheless deteriorated by multiphoton absorption and is fundamentally limited by the damage threshold of the crystal. This restricts the applicable pump fluence to nothing more than 20 mJ/cm 2 .