We present a combined theoretical and experimental study of spatiotemporal propagation effects in terahertz (THz) generation in gases using two-color ionizing laser pulses. The observed strong broadening of the THz spectra with increasing gas pressure reveals the prominent role of spatiotemporal reshaping and of a plasma-induced blueshift of the pump pulses in the generation process. Results obtained from (3+1)-dimensional simulations are in good agreement with experimental findings and clarify the mechanisms responsible for THz emission.

Terahertz (THz) radiation produced by the filamentation of two-color pulses over long distances in argon is numerically investigated using a comprehensive model in full space-time-resolved geometry. We show that the dominant physical mechanism for THz generation in the filamentation regime at clamping intensity is based on quasi-dc plasma currents. The calculated THz spectra for different pump pulse energies and pulse durations are in agreement with previously reported experimental observations. For the same pulse parameters, near-infrared pump pulses at $2\text{ }\text{ }$\mu${}\mathrm{m}$ are shown to generate a more than 1 order of magnitude greater THz yield than pumps centered at 800 nm.

Broadband ultrashort terahertz (THz) pulses can be produced using plasma generation in a noble gas ionized by femtosecond two-color pulses. Here we demonstrate that, by using multiple-frequency laser pulses, one can obtain a waveform which optimizes the free electron trajectories in such a way that they acquire the largest drift velocity. This allows us to increase the THz conversion efficiency to 2%, an unprecedented performance for THz generation in gases. In addition to the analytical study of THz generation using a local current model, we perform comprehensive 3D simulations accounting for propagation effects which confirm this prediction. Our results show that THz conversion via tunnel ionization can be greatly improved with well-designed multicolor pulses.

The interaction of subcycle pulses with quantum systems is considered when the pulse duration becomes much smaller than the timescales of electron oscillations. We show analytically that interaction processes in this case are governed by the electric pulse area. The efficient nonresonant excitation of quantum systems by subcycle pulses with a high degree of unipolarity is demonstrated. The results are confirmed by direct numerical solution of multilevel Bloch equations.

We propose a strikingly simple method to form approximately unipolar half-cycle optical pulses via reflection of a single-cycle optical pulse from a thin flat metallic or dielectric layer. Unipolar pulses in reflection arise due to specifics of one-dimensional pulse propagation. Namely, we show that the field emitted by the layer is proportional to the velocity of the oscillating charges in the medium, instead of their acceleration. Besides, the oscillation velocity of the charges can be forced to keep a constant sign throughout the pulse duration. That is, reflection of ultrashort pulses from broad-area layers with nanometer-scale thickness can be very different from the common reflection in the case of longer pulses and thicker layers. This suggests a possibility of unusual transformations of few-cycle light pulses in completely linear optical systems.