Tilted-Pulse-Front Pumped Plane-Parallel LiNbO3 Slab THz Source

A new type of tilted-pulse-front pumped terahertz (THz) source has been demonstrated, which is based on a LiNbO3 plane-parallel slab with an echelon structure on its input surface. The use of a plane-parallel nonlinear optical crystal slab enables straightforward scaling to high THz pulse energies and the production of a symmetric THz beam with a uniform pulse shape for good focusability and high field strength.