Terahertz generation by nonlinear mixing of laser and its second harmonic in a rippled density plasma

Terahertz radiation generation by second-order nonlinear mixing of laser $ (\omega_{1} ,\,\vec{k}_{1} ) $ and its frequency shifted second harmonic $ \omega_{2} = 2\omega_{1} - \omega ,\,\,\vec{k}_{2} \, $ $ (\omega \ll \omega_{1} ) $ in a plasma, in the presence of an obliquely inclined density ripple of wave number $ \vec{q} $ , are investigated. The lasers exert ponderomotive force on electrons and drive density perturbations at $ (2\omega_{1} ,\,2\vec{k}_{1} - \vec{q}) $ and $ (\omega_{1} - \omega_{2} ,\,\vec{k}_{1} - \vec{k}_{2} - \vec{q}) $ . These perturbations beat with the electron oscillatory velocities due to the lasers to produce a nonlinear current at $ \omega ,\,\vec{k} = 2\vec{k}_{1} - \vec{k}_{2} - \vec{q} $ , resonantly driving the terahertz radiation when $ \vec{q} $ satisfies the phase matching condition. The radiated THz intensity depends on the relative polarization of the lasers and scales as the square of intensity of the fundamental laser and linearly with the square root of the intensity of the second harmonic. The THz emission is maximized when the polarization of the lasers is aligned. These results are consistent with the recent experimental results.