Abstract

We show theoretically that anisotropy of the electronic distribution function inside the laser-irradiated metal leads to the formation of edge currents at the timescale of distribution isotropization. When the electronic pressure in the skin layer is anisotropic, the pressure gradient appears to be non-potential force producing a low-frequency magnetic field. In the case of femtosecond laser pumping, the estimated internal magnetic field reaches magnitude up to 1 T even in the non-damaging interaction regime. We demonstrate that this field is localized inside the metal, while just a minor part of its energy is radiated into free space as a sub-terahertz signal.

© 2020 Optical Society of America

Free-electron mechanisms of low-frequency radiation generation on metal surfaces

S. G. Bezhanov and S. A. Uryupin
Opt. Lett. 41(21) 4975-4978 (2016)

Photonic spin Hall effect by anisotropy-induced polarization gradient in momentum space

Lei Cai, Shuang Zhang, Wenguo Zhu, Hao Wu, Huadan Zheng, Jianhui Yu, Yongchun Zhong, and Zhe Chen
Opt. Lett. 45(24) 6740-6743 (2020)

Time-resolved characterization of ultrafast electrons in intense laser and metallic-dielectric target interaction

M. Galletti, F. G. Bisesto, M. P. Anania, M. Ferrario, R. Pompili, A. Poyé, and A. Zigler
Opt. Lett. 45(16) 4420-4423 (2020)

Ultrafast internal modification of glass by selective absorption of a continuous-wave laser into excited electrons

Naoyuki Miyamoto, Yusuke Ito, Chaoran Wei, Reina Yoshizaki, Akihiro Shibata, Ikuo Nagasawa, Keisuke Nagato, and Naohiko Sugita
Opt. Lett. 45(11) 3171-3174 (2020)

Asymmetric surface wave excitation through metasurface-edge diffraction

Miguel Camacho, Filippo Capolino, and Matteo Albani
Opt. Lett. 45(19) 5420-5423 (2020)