基于固体薄片超连续飞秒光源驱动的高次谐波产生实验

本文报道了采用基于熔石英薄片超连续的少周期飞秒光源驱动高次谐波产生的实验研究.实验中通过将重复频率1kHz的飞秒钛宝石激光放大器所输出的能量0.8mJ、脉宽30fs的脉冲聚焦到7片0.1mm厚的熔融石英片中,得到了覆盖带宽大于倍频程的展宽光谱.利用啁啾镜补偿色散后,经瞬态光栅频率分辨光学开关法测得脉宽为6.3fs,对应约2.3个光学周期.利用压缩后的激光脉冲聚焦作用于惰性气体,并通过调节尖劈插入量改变脉宽,分别测得了分立以及连续的高次谐波截止区信号,结果与6.3fs的脉冲宽度相符合.     

Effect of laser focus in two-color synthesized waveform on generation of soft x-ray high harmonics

Synthesis of multi-color laser pulses has been developed as a promising way to improve low conversion efficiency of high-order harmonic generation (HHG). Here we systematically study the effect of laser focus in a two-color waveform on generation of macroscopic HHG in soft x-rays. We find that the dependence of HHG yields on laser focus at low or high gas pressure is sensitive to the characteristics of single-atom harmonic response, in which "short"-or "long"-trajectory emissions can be selectively controlled by changing the waveform of two-color synthesized laser pulse. We uncover the phase-matching mechanism of HHG in the gas medium by examining the propagation of the two-color waveform and the evolution of time-frequency emissions of high-harmonic field. We further reveal that the nonlinear effects, such as geometric phase, atomic dispersion, and plasma defocusing, are responsible for modification of two-color waveform upon propagation. This work can be used to find better macroscopic conditions for generating soft x-ray HHG by employing two-color optimized waveforms.     

Waveform-controlled near-single-cycle milli-joule laser pulses generate sub-10 nm extreme ultraviolet continua

We demonstrate the generation of waveform-controlled laser pulses with 1?mJ pulse energy and a full-width-half-maximum duration of ～4 fs, therefore lasting less than two cycles of the electric field oscillating at their carrier frequency. The laser source is carrier-envelope-phase stabilized and used as the backbone of a kHz repetition rate source of high-harmonic continua with unprecedented flux at photon energies between 100 and 200?eV (corresponding to a wavelength range between 12-6?nm respectively). In combination we use these tools for the complete temporal characterization of the laser pulses via attosecond streaking spectroscopy.     

Generation of higher harmonics of laser radiation in plasma formed by pulses with a 1-kHz repetition rate

Studies of higher-order nonlinearities in plasma plumes by the method of higher-harmonic generation (HHG) upon laser ablation of different materials by pulses with a repetition rate of 1 kHz are reviewed. It is shown that an increase in the pulse repetition rate compared to the previous works on HHG in plasma using lasers with a pulse repetition rate of 10 KHz considerably increases the average power of converted radiation in the far-ultraviolet (FUV) region. The review considers the results of works on the interference of quantum trajectories of accelerated electrons, two-color pumping, HHG in graphite plasma, HHG in gases compared to HHG in plasma plumes, resonant enhancement of harmonics, and stabilization of the output parameters of radiation converted in plasma. It is shown that the new methods of optimization of the HHG process considerably increase the potential of the use of coherent FUV radiation owing to the improvement of some characteristics of harmonics in plasma generated by pulses with a high repetition rate.     

High-harmonic generation from plasma mirrors at kilohertz repetition rate

We report the first demonstration of high-harmonic generation from plasma mirrors at a 1 kHz repetition rate. Harmonics up to nineteenth order are generated at peak intensities close to 101? W/cm2 by focusing 1 mJ, 25 fs laser pulses down to 1.7 μm FWHM spot size without any prior wavefront correction onto a moving target. We minimize target surface motion with respect to the laser focus using online interferometry to ensure reproducible interaction conditions for every shot and record data at 1 kHz with unprecedented statistics. This allows us to unambiguously identify coherent wake emission as the main generation mechanism.     

H2+和H3+系统的电子频谱与高次谐波谱

针对单电子H2+和双电子H3+系统,采用对称分裂算符法求解波函数的时间演化。计算了电子的含时频谱和体系的高次谐波谱,结果表明:电子频谱和高次谐波谱呈互补规律,即电子频谱峰值出现在基波的偶数倍频率位置,高次谐波则出现在奇数位置。对高次谐波谱随软化库仑参数的变化规律进行了数值研究,发现只在软化库仑参数的一定范围内才产生高次谐波,对该现象作了解释。     

Phase-coherent frequency combs in the vacuum ultraviolet via high-harmonic generation inside a femtosecond enhancement cavity

We demonstrate the generation of phase-coherent frequency combs in the vacuum utraviolet spectral region. The output from a mode-locked laser is stabilized to a femtosecond enhancement cavity with a gas jet at the intracavity focus. The resulting high-peak power of the intracavity pulse enables efficient high-harmonic generation by utilizing the full repetition rate of the laser. Optical-heterodyne-based measurements reveal that the coherent frequency comb structure of the original laser is fully preserved in the high-harmonic generation process. These results open the door for precision frequency metrology at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths and permit the efficient generation of phase-coherent high-order harmonics using only a standard laser oscillator without active amplification of single pulses.     

23W peak power picosecond pulses from a single-stage all-semiconductor master oscillator power amplifier

Using a single-stage all-semiconductor master oscillator-power amplifier, we generate narrow-band laser pulses of 23?W peak power at 1063?nm wavelength. These pulses of 40?ps length FWHM have a variable repetition rate and pulse energies around 2?nJ, which exceeds previous realizations and makes them ideally suited for second harmonic generation. With a spectral filter, an extinction ratio above 36?dB could be achieved at nearly 10?W peak power. We use a novel spectral method to reliably determine pulse energies independently of the background level.     

High-order harmonic generation of pulses with multiple timescales: selection rules,carrier envelope phase and cutoff energy

ABSTRACT

High harmonic generation (HHG) is sensitive to the carrier envelope phase (CEP) of its driving laser field if it is a sufficiently short pulse (several-cycle pulse). Here we show that strong CEP effects can also be found in HHG from long duration multi-cycle pulses (up to 200?fs at 800?nm central wavelength). We find that HHG from multi-cycle pulses may be CEP dependent when the driving pulse exhibits two distinct timescales (multi-timescale pulse): (i) a short timescale associated with the average frequency, and (ii) a long timescale associated with the pulse’s temporal periodicity. The interplay of these timescales results in significant changes to both the cutoff frequency, and the appearance of symmetry allowed harmonics in the spectrum as function of CEP, similar to HHG from several-cycle pulses. We relate this effect to the multi-timescale intensity variations in the driving pulse, and construct an analytical condition to access the phenomenon. Lastly, we numerically demonstrate reconstruction of the CEP through HHG from long duration multi-timescale pulses. Our work may be useful in several areas of strong-field physics and attosecond science, for example, allowing spectroscopy of multi-timescale processes (e.g. HHG from vibrationally active media), and paving the way towards CEP characterisation using long pulses.     

Three-step model for high-harmonic generation in many-electron systems

The three-step model (TSM) of high-harmonic generation (HHG) is generalized to atomic and molecular many-electron systems. Using many-body perturbation theory, corrections to the standard TSM due to exchange and electron-electron correlations are derived. It is shown that canonical Hartree-Fock orbitals represent the most appropriate set of one-electron states for calculating the HHG spectrum. To zeroth order in many-body perturbation theory, a HHG experiment allows direct access, in general, to a combination of occupied Hartree-Fock orbitals rather than to the highest occupied molecular orbital by itself.     

Single attosecond pulse generation with intense mid-infrared elliptically polarized laser pulses

We have studied theoretically high-harmonic-order and single attosecond pulse generation with elliptically polarized laser pulses at wavelengths ranging from the visible to the mid-infrared. Results of ab initio simulations of the time-dependent Schr?dinger equation show that the ellipticity dependence of the high-harmonic signal intensifies with increasing wavelength of the driving pulse and saturates in the mid-infrared. The isolation of single attosecond pulses using the polarization gating method in the mid-infrared is due to an effective suppression of side pulses as compared with an operation at Ti:sapphire wavelengths.     

SPM-induced spectral compression of picosecond pulses in a single-mode Yb-doped fiber amplifier

In a fiber amplifier, spectral compression due to self-phase modulation is demonstrated for ultrashort pulses. We report the generation of near-transform-limited picosecond pulses with peak powers of several kW at a repetition rate of 74 MHz and diffraction-limited beam quality in a Yb-doped fiber amplifier when seeding with a negative chirped pulse. Received: 17 September 2001 / Revised version: 22 November 2001 / Published online: 17 January 2002     

Single attosecond pulse generation in the multicycle-driver regime by adding a weak second-harmonic field

We present a method of producing single attosecond pulses by high-harmonic generation with multicycle driver laser pulses. This can be achieved by tailoring the driving pulse so that attosecond pulses are produced only every full cycle of the oscillating laser field rather than every half-cycle. It is shown by classical and quantum-mechanical model calculations that even a minor addition (1%) of phase-locked second-harmonic light to the 800 nm fundamental driver pulse for high-harmonic generation leads to a major (15%) difference in the maximum kinetic energies of the recombining electrons in adjacent half-cycles.     

A high-harmonic generation source for seeding a free-electron laser at 38 nm

Direct seeding with a high-harmonic generation (HHG) source can improve the spectral, temporal, and coherence properties of a free-electron laser (FEL) and shall reduce intensity and arrival-time fluctuations. In the seeding experiment sFLASH at the extreme ultraviolet FEL in Hamburg FLASH, which operates in the self-amplified spontaneous emission mode (SASE), the 21st harmonic of an 800 nm laser is refocused into a dedicated seeding undulator. For seeding, the external light field has to overcome the noise level of SASE; therefore, an efficient coupling between seed pulse and electron bunch is mandatory. Thus, an HHG beam with a proper divergence, width, beam quality, Rayleigh length, pointing stability, single-shot pulse energy, and stability in the 21st harmonic is needed. Here, we present the setup of the HHG source that seeds sFLASH at 38.1 nm, the optimization procedures, and the necessary diagnostics.     

Influence of the intensity gradient upon HHG from free electrons scattered by an intense laser beam

When an electron is scattered by a tightly focused laser beam in vacuum, the intensity gradient is a critical factor to influence the electron dynamics. In this paper, we have further investigated its influence upon the electron high-harmonic generation (HHG) by treating the spacial gradient of the laser intensity as a ponderomotive potential. Based upon perturbative quantum electrodynamics calculations, it has been found that the main effect of the intensity gradient is the broadening of the originally line HHG spectra. A one-to-one relationship can be built between the beam width and the corresponding line width. Hence, this finding may provide us a promising way to measure the beam width of intense lasers in experiments. In addition, for a laser pulse, we have also studied the different influences from transverse and longitudinal intensity gradients upon HHG.     

High-repetition-rate 12 fs pulse amplification by a Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier system

We demonstrate the direct generation of 12 fs pulses from a Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier system at a 1 kHz repetition rate utilizing properly designed broadband components for chirped-pulse amplification. Optimized designs of a regenerative amplifier with a multilayer gain-narrowing compensator and an adaptive dispersion compensator with a spatial light modulator contribute to the shorter pulse amplification.     

Broadband difference frequency mixing between visible and near-infrared pulses for few-cycle pulse generation with stable carrier-envelope phase

Difference frequency generation between broadband visible noncollinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) pulses and the fundamental pump laser pulses allows the generation of ultrashort infrared pulses with passively stabilized carrier-envelope phase. A simple prism compressor for the visible NOPA pulses is sufficient to generate few-cycle pulses in the infrared and no additional compression is needed. We theoretically investigate the concept, explain the principles, and demonstrate it for high repetition rate, long pulse durations, and various wavelengths by applying it to a Ti:sapphire and an Yb:KYW-based laser systems. For the latter sub-15 fs phase stable pulses around 1.8 μm with an energy of 100 nJ are obtained at 100 kHz repetition rate.     

Yb:YAG Innoslab amplifier: efficient high repetition rate subpicosecond pumping system for optical parametric chirped pulse amplification

We report on a Yb:YAG Innoslab laser amplifier system for generation of subpicsecond high energy pump pulses for optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) at high repetition rates. Pulse energies of up to 20 mJ (at 12.5 kHz) and repetition rates of up to 100 kHz were attained with pulse durations of 830 fs and average power in excess of 200 W. We further investigate the possibility to use subpicosecond pulses to derive a stable continuum in a YAG crystal for OPCPA seeding.     

Control mechanism of atomic ionization and high-order harmonic generation assisted by attosecond pulses

Attosecond pulses combined with infrared laser constitute a powerful tool for controlling atomic photoionization and high-order harmonic generation (HHG). We apply the intense-field many-body S-matrix theory to solve such two-pulse excitation problems. The theory can give a clear explanation for the oscillation of ionization probability as a function of time delay between infrared field and attosecond pulses with central frequency lying below ionization threshold at moderate infrared intensities. The HHG assisted by such attosecond pulses is also interpreted. In addition to a known dramatic enhancement of HHG, a harmonic emission from rapid oscillation of bound-state population caused by the counter-rotating wave is presented.     

Generation of 0.1-TW 5-fs optical pulses at a 1-kHz repetition rate

A compact all-solid-state femtosecond Ti:sapphire oscillator?amplifier system using no grating-based pulse stretcher produces 20-fs, 1.5-mJ pulses at a 1-kHz repetition rate. The pulses are subsequently compressed in a hollow-fiber chirped-mirror compressor. The system delivers bandwidth-limited 5-fs, 0.5-mJ pulses at 780 nm in a diffraction-limited beam.