• Advanced Photonics
  • Vol. 3, Issue 1, 015002 (2021)
Yong Tan1, Hang Zhao1, Rui Zhang2, Yuejin Zhao1、*, Cunlin Zhang3, Xi-Cheng Zhang4, and Liangliang Zhang3、*
Author Affiliations
  • 1Beijing Institute of Technology, School of Optics and Photonics, Beijing Key Laboratory for Precision Optoelectronic Measurement Instruments and Technology, Beijing, China
  • 2Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Shenzhen, China
  • 3Capital Normal University, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Imaging Technology and Key Laboratory of Terahertz Optoelectronics (MoE), Department of Physics, Beijing, China
  • 4University of Rochester, Institute of Optics, Rochester, New York, United States
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    DOI: 10.1117/1.AP.3.1.015002 Cite this Article Set citation alerts
    Yong Tan, Hang Zhao, Rui Zhang, Yuejin Zhao, Cunlin Zhang, Xi-Cheng Zhang, Liangliang Zhang. Transient evolution of quasifree electrons of plasma in liquid water revealed by optical-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy[J]. Advanced Photonics, 2021, 3(1): 015002 Copy Citation Text show less

    Abstract

    The fundamental properties of laser-induced plasma in liquid water, such as the ultrafast electron migration and solvation, have not yet been clarified. We use 1650-nm femtosecond laser pulses to induce the plasma in a stable free-flowing water film under the strong field ionization mechanism. Moreover, we adopt intense terahertz (THz) pulses to probe the ultrafast temporal evolution of quasifree electrons of the laser-induced plasma in water on the subpicosecond scale. For the first time, the THz wave absorption signal with a unique two-step decay characteristic in time domain is demonstrated, indicating the significance of electron solvation in water. We employ the Drude model combined with the multilevel intermediate model and particle-in-a-box model to simulate and analyze the key information of quasifree electrons, such as the frequency-domain absorption characteristics and solvation ratio. In particular, we observe that the solvation capacity of liquid water decreases with the increase of pumping energy. Up to ~50 % of quasifree electrons cannot be captured by traps associated with the bound states as the pumping energy increases to 90 μJ / pulse. The ultrafast electron evolution in liquid water revealed by the optical-pump/THz-probe experiment provides further insights into the formation and evolution mechanisms of liquid plasma.
    ΔE(ω)Eref(ω)=12iωε0n2[iωlcn2n1n2(n2+n1)+MR]Δσ(ω),(1)

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    Δσ(ω)=iε0ωp2ω+iγ0,(2)

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    f=a/hrg2,(3)

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    Yong Tan, Hang Zhao, Rui Zhang, Yuejin Zhao, Cunlin Zhang, Xi-Cheng Zhang, Liangliang Zhang. Transient evolution of quasifree electrons of plasma in liquid water revealed by optical-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy[J]. Advanced Photonics, 2021, 3(1): 015002
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