Beam-quality measurement of a focused high-order harmonic beam

Using a multilayer spherical mirror, we focus the high-order harmonic radiation produced near 55 nm by the nonlinear interaction of an intense femtosecond laser pulse and a xenon gas jet. The focused XUV beam is characterized by a knife-edge technique in the focal region and by far-field imaging. We show that good-quality beams, nearly two times diffraction limited, can be generated, a conclusion that is at variance with recent predictions of harmonic phase-front distortion. Spot sizes close to 10 microm are obtained, resulting in a high XUV intensity. Increasing the gas density and the length of the generating medium results in a large increase in the divergence in and degradation of the beam quality.     

Study of High-Order Harmonic at VUV/XUV

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相对论圆偏振激光与固体靶作用产生高次谐波

超短超强激光与固体靶表面等离子体相互作用可以通过高次谐波的方式产生从极紫外到软X射线波段的相干辐射,获得飞秒甚至阿秒量级的超短脉冲,可用于观测原子或分子中的电子运动等超快动力学过程.本文实验研究了相对论圆偏振飞秒激光与固体靶相互作用的高次谐波产生过程,实验结果表明,在较大入射角下,圆偏振激光也可以有效地产生高次谐波辐射.通过预脉冲控制靶表面的预等离子体密度标长,发现高次谐波的产生效率随密度标长的增加而单调下降.进一步通过二维粒子模拟程序,分析了激光的偏振以及预等离子体密度标长对高次谐波产生的影响,很好地解释了实验观测结果.     

A tunable XUV monochromatic light source based on the time preserving grating selection of high-order harmonic generation

We accomplish a laboratory facility for producing a femtosecond XUV coherent monochromatic radiation with a broad tunable spectral range of 20 eV-75 eV. It is based on spectral selected single-order harmonics from intense laser driven high harmonic generation in gas phase. The time preserving for the selected harmonic radiation is achieved by a Czerny-Turner type monochromator designed with a conical diffraction grating mount for minimizing the time broadening caused by grating diffraction and keeping a relatively high diffraction efficiency. Our measurement shows that the photon flux of the 23-order harmonic(H23) centered at 35.7 eV is 1×10~9 photons/s approximately with a resolving power E/?E ≈ 36.This source provides an ultrashort tunable monochromatic XUV beam for ultrafast studies of electronic and structural dynamics in a large variety of matters.     

Full tunability of laser femtosecond high-order harmonics in the ultraviolet spectral range

We demonstrate experimentally the full tunability of a coherent femtosecond source in the whole ultraviolet spectral region. The experiment relies on the technique of high-order harmonic generation driven by a near-infrared parametric laser source in krypton gas. By tuning the drive wavelength in the range between 1100 to 1900?nm, we generated intense harmonics from near to extreme ultraviolet. A number of photons per shot of the order of 10⁷ has been measured for the first harmonic orders. Many novel scientific prospects are expected to benefit from the use of such a table-top tunable source.     

Coherent ultrashort XUV emission by harmonic generation

By focusing an intense short-pulse laser into a rare gas jet, high-order harmonics of the laser frequency are generated. Considerable progress have been made in the last few years, with the observation of harmonic orders higher than 200, extending the emission down to 3 nm. Besides its fundamental interest, this XUV emission represents a new source with unique properties of coherence and ultrashort (femtosecond) duration. A growing number of applications are reported, ranging from atomic and molecular spectroscopy to solid-state and plasma physics.     

Research activities at the PALS research infrastructure

The Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS) Research Infrastructure (RI) in Prague, one of only four kJ-class laser facilities in EU, has been offering its beam time to European researchers for already 14 years, since 2004 in the framework of the LASERLAB-Europe consortium. Till June 2014, the PALS RI has provided 4313 experimental days for a total of 41 projects with 303 international users from 42 different research institutions. Its principal experimental facility is a terawatt sub-ns iodine laser (1315?nm) with an optional plasma-based zinc XUV laser (21.2?nm), and an auxiliary Ti:Sapphire fs laser (1?J, 70?fs) exploited for femtosecond plasma probing and experiments with synchronised femtosecond and sub-nanosecond laser pulses at mean laser intensities of up to 30?PW/cm². The lasers are equipped with several target facilities and rich sets of instruments for both active and passive plasma diagnostics. The PALS main research areas include development and applications of secondary laser sources of high-energy ions and both coherent and non-coherent high-intensity XUV radiation, laboratory astrophysical and inertial fusion-relevant studies. In this paper, the main results having been achieved at PALS in the framework of LASERLAB-EUROPE international access activities during the last four years are highlighted.     

Femtosecond enhancement cavity with kilowatt average power

Femtosecond enhancement cavity(fsEC) has been proved to be a powerful tool in a diverse range of applications.Here, we report the recent progresses in building an fsEC on kilowatt level average power, with the aim of realization of intracavity high harmonic generation(HHG) and extension of the wavelength of femtosecond optical frequency comb from infrared(IR) to extreme ultraviolet(XUV). Upon mode-matching optimization and cavity length locking, an intracavity average power of 6.08 kW is reached and the corresponding buildup is 225. After introducing noble gas of Xe into the focus region, clear sign of plasma has been observed. The generated HHG is also coupled out by a sapphire plate placed at Brewster's angle for the fundamental laser. Our work paves the way for the realization of an XUV comb.     

Controlling the divergence of high harmonics from solid targets: a route toward coherent harmonic focusing

Harmonic generation from relativistically oscillating plasma surfaces formed during the interaction of high contrast lasers with solid-density targets has been shown to be an efficient source of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and X-ray radiation. Recent work has demonstrated that the exceptional coherence properties of the driving laser can be mirrored in the emitted radiation, permitting diffraction limited performance and attosecond phase locking of the harmonic radiation. These unique properties may allow the coherent harmonic focusing (CHF) of high harmonics generated from solid density targets to intensities on the order of the Schwinger limit of 10²⁹ W cm^-2 with laser systems available in the near future [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 115002 (2004)] and thus pave the way for unique experiments exploring the nonlinear properties of vacuum on ultra-fast timescales. In this paper we investigate experimentally as well as numerically the prospect of focusing high harmonics under realistic experimental conditions and demonstrate, using particle in cell (PIC) simulations, that precise control of the wavefronts and thus the focusability of the generated harmonics is possible with pre-shaped targets.     

Phase-matched high-order harmonics by interaction of Ar atoms with high-repetition-rate low-energy femtosecond laser pulses

High-order harmonics are generated by coherent interaction of an intense laser and atoms or molecules[1]. With the development of the intense ultrashort pulse laser, the research of high-order harmonic generation has reached the water-window in spectral region[2] and subfemtosecond in time domain[3]. Especially, the generation and application of subfemtosecond pulse led the study of high-order harmonic generation into a completely new world[4, 5]. It has made the study of ultrafast science fro…     

Time-frequency characterization of high-order harmonic pulses

We present energy-resolved cross-correlation measurements of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses generated as high harmonics of femtosecond pulses from a 1 kHz titanium-sapphire laser. The harmonic pulses are probed by a fraction of the fundamental laser pulse at 800 nm, in a noncollinear geometry, allowing us to vary independently the parameters of the harmonic pump and near-infrared probe pulses. We measure the so-called sidebands in the photoelectron spectrum of argon corresponding to the absorption of a harmonic photon plus or minus one probe photon. Spectrally resolving the cross-correlation signal allows us to characterize the time-dependent frequency of the XUV pulse.Received: 20 December 2002, Published online: 24 April 2003PACS: 42.65.Ky Harmonic generation, frequency conversion     

靶源位置对强场高次谐波相位匹配的影响

为提高强激光场与惰性气体靶作用产生的孤立阿秒激光脉冲的能量,给出了一种实现高次谐波过程中最佳谐波相位匹配的定量实验方法。研究了气体靶源与高斯型驱动激光场聚焦点相对空间位置对谐波相位匹配及谐波产率的影响,得出了其最佳相位匹配位置始终位于驱动激光场聚焦点后3~5 mm,而在聚焦点之前的位置区域,严重的高次谐波相位失配导致谐波产率非常低。同时,在最佳相位匹配条件下,高次谐波场与驱动场具有相类似的空间强度分布特性,该结果印证了目前通常采用的高次谐波场为高斯光束的假设。     

Production of intense attosecond vector beam pulse trains based on harmonics

We provide the first report on the harmonics generated by an intense femtosecond vector beam that is normally incident on a solid target. By using 2D particle-in-cell(PIC) codes, we observe the third and the fifth harmonic signals with the same vector structure as the driving beam, and obtain an attosecond vector beam pulse train. We also show that the conversion efficiencies of the third and the fifth harmonics reach their maxima for a plasma density of four times the critical density due to the plasma resonating with the driving force. This method provides a new means of generating intense extreme ultraviolet(XUV) vector beams via ultra-intense laser-driven harmonics.     

High harmonic XUV spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction

We demonstrate the first experimental complete temporal characterization of high-harmonic XUV pulses by spectral phase interferometry, with an all-optical setup. This method allows us to perform single-shot measurements of the harmonic temporal profile and phase, revealing a remarkable shot-to-shot stability. We characterize harmonics generated in argon by a 50 fs 800 nm laser pulse. The 11th harmonic is found to be 22 fs long with a negative chirp rate of -4.8 x 10(27) s(-2). This duration can be reduced to 13 fs by modulating the polarization of the generating laser. The technique is easy to implement and could be routinely used in femtosecond XUV pump-probe experiments with harmonics.     

Generation of high-order harmonic continuum with two-hump-structure infrared laser pulse

We experimentally investigate the high-order harmonic generation in argon gas cell driven by a multi-cycle broadband infrared laser pulse from a tunable optical-parametric-amplifier （OPA） source. The generation of high-order harmonic continuum with the cut-off photon energy up to 110 eV is observed by tuning the chirp of the 800-nm laser pulse which pumps OPA source. The generation of harmonic continuum is understood in terms of the two-hump structure of the OPA output spectrum and the optimal relative phase of the two humps. The demonstrated scheme is of importance for the generation of extreme ultraviolet （XUV） continuum at higher photon energy region.     

用变换方程测量窄带阿秒超紫外线XUV脉冲的强度时间结构

阿秒超紫外线(extreme ultra-violet, XUV)与飞秒超短激光脉冲共同激发惰性气体原子产生光电子，其终态能量与光电子产生时刻即激光相位有关. 介绍光电子的激光相位确定法，并利用光电子能谱本身(其比例谱)，计算出待测窄带XUV脉冲的强度时间结构. 研究表明，在与激光线性极化方向成0°或180°方向测量得到的光电子能谱动态范围大，容易解谱. XUV脉冲的时间宽度的测量范围为半个激光振荡周期，时间分辨率主要取决于测量系统的时间晃动和控制精度. 关键词： 光电子能谱 相位确定法 变换方程 脉冲强度时间结构     

Kilohertz extreme-ultraviolet light source based on femtosecond high-order harmonic generation from noble gases

A compact, versatile table-top kilohertz source of coherent extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) radiation in the wavelength region 18–100 nm, based on high-order harmonic generation from noble gases induced by a 40-femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser system, is presented. The XUV beamline delivers at its output 10⁸ photons/s at a wavelength of 23 nm. The monochromatized XUV radiation is directly focused onto a 10^-2-mm² spot by a toroidal grating, allowing one to reach intensities higher than 10⁶ W/cm². Optimization results are presented for a new XUV-generating geometry, utilizing a ‘semi-infinite’ quasi-static gas cell and strong focusing. In those conditions, we observe an anomalous inversion between the cutoffs of argon and krypton, with the krypton spectrum extending to much higher orders than expected in an adiabatic limit. Received: 9 July 2001 / Revised version: 1 August 2001 / Published online: 7 November 2001     

Few-cycle-driven XUV laser harmonics: generation and focusing

We have investigated the use of sub-10-fs near-infrared laser pulses to generate high-order harmonic radiation efficiently in the wavelength region between 30 to 10 nm. The ultrashort rise time of the driver pulses allows harmonics to be produced at low ionization levels and hence to grow coherently over propagation lengths becoming comparable to the XUV absorption lengths in the noble gas medium. As a result, absorption-limited harmonic generation has been extended to the 10-nm range for the first time. Harmonic conversion efficiencies of (3-4)᎒^ъ in the range of 10-13 nm in neon and some two orders of magnitude higher at around 30 nm in argon have been obtained in simple gas tube targets under these conditions. Preliminary focusing tests with 13-nm harmonic radiation have been carried out with a specially designed zoneplate and a spherical Mo/Si multilayer mirror and have resulted in spot sizes of about 2 microns. Our experiments aim at paving the way to nonlinear optics in the soft-X-ray regime.     

Time-frequency characterization of femtosecond extreme ultraviolet pulses

We present energy-resolved cross-correlation measurements of an extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulse, generated as the fifth harmonic (15.5 eV) of an intense 80 fs laser pulse centered at 400 nm. Spectrally resolving the cross-correlation signal allows us to characterize the time-dependent frequency of the XUV pulse. We find that the fifth harmonic has a small negative chirp in excess of that predicted by perturbation theory. In addition, by manipulating the chirp of the driving laser we can induce and measure a positive or a negative chirp on the XUV pulse.