Below gap optical absorption in GaAs driven by intense, single-cycle coherent transition radiation

Authors

• J. Goodfellow, Stanford University
• Matthias Fuchs, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• D. Daranciang, Stanford University
• S. Ghimire, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
• F. Chen, Stanford University
• H. Loos, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
• D. A. Reis, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
• A. S. Fisher, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
• A. M. Lindenberg, Stanford University,Follow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

7-14-2014

Citation

OPTICS EXPRESS, Vol. 22, No. 14, DOI:10.1364/OE.22.017423 (14 July 2014)

Comments

Copyright (c) 2014 Optical Society of America. Used by permission.

Abstract

Single-cycle terahertz fields generated by coherent transition radiation from a relativistic electron beam are used to study the high field optical response of single crystal GaAs. Large amplitude changes in the sub-band-gap optical absorption are induced and probed dynamically by measuring the absorption of a broad-band optical beam generated by transition radiation from the same electron bunch, providing an absolutely synchronized pump and probe geometry. This modification of the optical properties is consistent with strong-field-induced electroabsorption. These processes are pertinent to a wide range of nonlinear terahertz-driven lightmatter interactions anticipated at accelerator-based sources.