Mechanisms of Optical-to-THz Conversion on Metal and Semimetal Surfaces

The paper is devoted to the very recent experimental and theoretical results on the laser-induced THz generation from metals and semimetals. Despite the relatively low efficiency, study of the optical-to-THz conversion on metal surface are still relevant, mostly because of possible applications in structural diagnostics and due to the fundamental interest in transformation mechanisms. Here we consider a thermal model of THz response and present some new experimental results on the anisotropic His generation from the surface of mono- and polycrystalline bismuth samples.