Terahertz (THz) waves could be generated through exciting a gravity-guided, free-flowing water wedge by a dual-color pulse. It is not required to rotate the optimal angle considering the water film as an ionization medium. It is demonstrated to be more effective to generate stronger THz radiation when the ionization position is on the front surface of the air water interface of the water wedge by moving its position. The effect of pulse energy on THz generation is also investigated, and it is observed that with the increase of pulse energy the THz electric field shows a quadratic rising trend. These observations are consistent with air plasma induced THz emission.

We report a universal approach based on the surface plasmon resonances (SPRs) attained in filamentation in water doped with gold nanoparticles for enhancing the nonlinear refractive index. The filament-induced supercontinuum spectrum in water overlaps with SPRs of gold nanospheres, which further leads to a modification on the Kerr nonlinear refractive index. In our experiment, the measured nonlinear refractive index (n₂) in water doped with gold nanoparticles increases by six times, as compared with that in pure water. Such enhancement may be useful for filament-induced nonlinear applications with modest incident intensity.