International audienceResearch on intense terahertz (THz) electromagnetic sources has received an increasing attention owing to numerous applications, for example, in time-domain spectroscopy, biomedical imaging or security screening. Here, THz emission in gases via ionizing multi-color femtosecond pulses is analyzed by means of semi-analytical models and finite-difference-time-domain simulations in 1D and 2D geometries. We find the emission in backward direction having a much smaller spectral bandwidth than in forward direction and explain this by interference effects. Forward THz radiation is generated predominantly at the ionization front and thus almost not affected by the opacity of the plasma, in excellent agreement with results obtained from a unidirectional pulse propagation model. Moreover, we show that produced THz signals interact with free electron trajectories andthus influence significantly further THz generation upon propagation, i.e., make the process inherently nonlocal. This self-action plays a key role in the observed strong spectral broadening of the generated THz field in forward direction. Diffraction limits the achievable THz bandwidth by efficiently depleting the low frequency amplitudes in the propagating field
