Observation of radially polarized terahertz radiation generated by a sub-picosecond electron beam

The fundamental property of radially polarized terahertz radiation, which is axial symmetry of the polarization state in the radial direction, was measured with a Schottky diode detector and with a terahertz camera and wire-grid linear polarizer. Radially polarized terahertz radiation was generated from coherent transition radiation using a 30-MeV sub-picosecond electron beam. Bow-tie intensity distributions, aligned along the polarization direction, were clearly observed with the terahertz camera and could be rotated by changing the direction of the linear polarizer. The measured intensity distribution agreed with the calculated value. A video of the data can be found online.