2019/01/22 by Shawn Sederberg, Fanqi Kong, Sederberg, Shawn +3
Physics and Astronomy · Engineering · #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #Terahertz technology and applications
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1901.07444
We introduce a new technique for the generation of magnetic impulses. This technique is based on coherent control of electrical currents using cylindrical laser beams with azimuthal polarization. When used to ionize a medium, in this case atomic hydrogen is considered, an azimuthal current impulse is driven. The spatial distribution of this current bears close resemblance to that of a solenoid, and produces a magnetic field impulse. The excitation and relaxation dynamics of this current temporally confine the resulting magnetic field to a Tesla-scale, terahertz bandwidth impulse. Importantly, the magnetic fields are spatially isolated from electric fields. This all-optical approach will enable ultrafast time-domain spectroscopy of magnetic phenomena.