Eur. Phys. J. D (2015) 69: 149
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2015-60108-6

Regular Article

Wiggler magnetic field assisted second harmonic generation in clusters

¹ Department of Physics, Lyallpur Khalsa College of Engineering, 144001 Jalandhar, India
² Department of Applied Sciences, DAV Institute of Engineering & Technology, 144008 Jalandhar, India
³ Research Scholar Punjab Technical University, 144601 Kapurthala, India
⁴ Department of Physics, Lovely Professional University, 144411 Phagwara, India

^a e-mail: svij25@yahoo.co.in

Received: 18 February 2015
Received in final form: 7 May 2015
Published online: 9 June 2015

Abstract

Wiggler magnetic field assisted second harmonic generation in clusters has been investigated theoretically. An intense short-pulse laser propagating through a gas embedded with atomic clusters, converts it into hot plasma balls. For clusters with radius less than one tenth of the laser wavelength, the nonlinear restoration force dominates, which leads to second harmonic generation. The magnetic wiggler provides the uncompensated momentum to second harmonic photon, to make the process of harmonic generation resonant. We explore the impact of laser intensity and cluster size on the efficiency of second harmonic generation. Pulse slippage of second harmonic pulse out of the domain of fundamental laser pulse has been observed on account of group velocity mismatch between the fundamental and second harmonic pulse. Enhancement in the efficiency of the second harmonic is seen for the optimum values of wiggler magnetic field.