Observation of terahertz emission from a laser-plasma accelerated electron bunch crossing a plasma-vacuum boundary.

Coherent radiation in the 0.3-3 THz range has been generated from femtosecond electron bunches at a plasma-vacuum boundary via transition radiation. The bunches produced by a laser-plasma accelerator contained 1.5 nC of charge. The THz energy per pulse within a limited 30 mrad collection angle was 3-5 nJ and scaled quadratically with bunch charge, consistent with coherent emission. Modeling indicates that this broadband source produces about 0.3 microJ per pulse within a 100 mrad angle, and that increasing the transverse plasma size and electron beam energy could provide more than 100 microJ/pulse.