Diffractive shadowing of coherent polarization radiation

We report on the study of shadowing of electromagnetic fields radiated in the Terahertz (THz) region from two consecutive sources of coherent diffraction and transition radiation. In these conditions, the formation length is predicted to be ≲100 m, and shadowing effects should result in an almost complete suppression of radiated fields within distances of the order of tens of centimeters. We experimentally measured that shadowing effects disappear for distances significantly shorter than those predicted. We propose a new model that explains our experimental observations by taking into account 3D diffraction effects. These findings will have a positive impact on the beneficial use of consecutive radiators both for the generation of intense electromagnetic radiation and for beam diagnostics using coherent polarization radiation from ultra-relativistic charged particles.