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The evolution of picosecond modulations of the longitudinal profile of an electron beam generated in an rf photoinjector is analyzed and optimized with the goal of obtaining high peak current electron bunch trains at very high frequencies (≥THz). Taking advantage of nonlinear longitudinal space charge forces, it is found that more than 500 A peak current 1 THz bunch trains can be generated using a standard 1.6 cell SLAC/UCLA/BNL rf gun. Postacceleration is used to freeze the longitudinal phase space dynamics after one half plasma oscillation. Applications range from tunable narrow bandwidth THz radiation generation to drivers for high frequency high gradient accelerators.