Characteristics of High Harmonics Generated in a Gas Filled Microcapillary

The phase-match and amplitude characteristics of high harmonics generation in gas filled micro-capillary have been analyzed. The results show that the order of harmonic can be selected by adjusting the gas pressure, the laser intensity and the inner diameter of capillary. The adjustment is depended on the dispersion properties of gas media . The amplitude of harmonics generated in gas filled capillary is two orders higher than that of gas jet, and the spectrum is become more monochromatic when the radius of the capillary is smaller. A high brightness tunable coherent soft X-ray source can be produced through interaction of fs intense laser with gas filled microcapillary.     

Enhancing the brilliance of high-harmonic generation

Both the gas jet and the capillary setup have remarkable features for high-harmonic generation (HHG). We demonstrated both the ability of the capillary to tailor its spectral XUV output in unique ways, as well as the feasibility of the jet and its ability to produce photon energies up to the keV range. For maximizing the brilliance in both schemes we have successfully applied the concept of self-learning loops to several of our experiments. We present current results on the focusability of capillary high-harmonic radiation, a wave front measurement on gas jet high harmonics and measurements of the influence of gas pressure and laser focus position on the divergence of gas jet high harmonics. This is embedded in an overview of selected previous and current work of our group.     

Generation of high harmonics and attosecond pulses with ultrashort laser pulse filaments and conical waves

Results illustrating the nonlinear dynamics of ultrashort laser pulse filamentation in gases are presented, with particular emphasis on the filament properties useful for developing attosecond light sources. Two aspects of ultrashort pulse filaments are specifically discussed: (i) numerical simulation results on pulse self-compression by filamentation in a gas cell filled with noble gas. Measurements of high harmonics generated by the pulse extracted from the filament allows for the detection of intensity spikes and subcycle pulses generated within the filament. (ii) Simulation results on the spontaneous formation of conical wavepackets during filamentation in gases, which in turn can be used as efficient driving pulses for the generation of high harmonics and isolated attosecond pulses.     

毛细管放电激励软x射线激光的产生时间

利用x射线二极管(XRD)，实验上测量了毛细管放电激励下类氖氩469nm软x射线激光的尖 峰信号. 改变毛细管的充气气压和主脉冲放电电流，研究了激光尖峰的产生时间随实验参数 的变化情况. 实验结果表明，激光产生于主脉冲电流波形的前沿，此时的主脉冲电流是其峰 值的65%—75%. 增加毛细管充气气压或者减小主脉冲峰值电流，激光的产生时间将会稍有延 迟. 同时改变毛细管充气气压时，激光尖峰信号在42Pa存在最大值. 关键词： 毛细管放电 软x射线激光 激光产生时间     

Influence of an ambipolar field and target boundary blurring on transition radiation from fast electrons of laser plasma

It is shown that the blurring of the rear side of a thin laser target leads to a decrease in the intensity of higher harmonics in the spectrum of coherent transition radiation and that the scale of the boundary inhomogeneity can be estimated from the amplitude ratio of harmonics. Deceleration of the electron flow in an ambipolar electric field at the rear boundary of a target leads to a decrease in the intensity of lower harmonics in the spectrum of coherent transition radiation, and the strength of the ambipolar field can be estimated from the amplitude ratio of harmonics. A change in the permittivity of a dielectric laser target with frequency can lead to an increase in the intensity of some harmonics in the spectrum due to the Vavilov-Cherenkov mechanism.     

Harmonic generation by an interaction of laser with an array of anharmonic carbon nanotubes

A scheme of second and third harmonic generation from laser irradiated anharmonic carbon nanotubes (CNTs) embedded in silica is proposed. An intense ultra short laser pulse interacting with the array of CNTs displaces its electrons. When this displacement becomes comparable to the radius of electrons of CNTs, the restoring force of electrons varies nonlinearly with the displacement. As a result, plasmon resonance gets broadened and the large resonance absorption of the laser by the electrons of CNTs occurs. The power conversion efficiency of harmonic generation due to the anharmonicity of CNTs is much higher than that due to the ponderomotive force nonlinearity. The effect of amplitude modulated parameter on the amplitude of second and third harmonic is studied. The high amplitude of generated harmonics can be realized with the amplitude modulated laser as compared to ordinary unmodulated laser.     

初始充气密度对毛细管放电泵浦的软X射线激光的影响

 利用哈尔滨工业大学的毛细管放电装置的放电参数，对放电过程中毛细管内初始氩气密度的变化对等离子体状态和类氖氩离子3p-3s跃迁线的增益系统的影响进行了全过程的理论模拟计算。给出了毛细管放电中等离子体状态和增益系数的空间分布的时间演变过程。理论计算表明能够出现增益的密度范围比较宽，这对于实验是有利的。现有放电参数下，选取初始氩气密度在气压为40~80 Pa情况对获取好的实现结果是比较理想的。     

Attosecond pulse trains driven by IR pulses spectrally broadened via supercontinuum generation in solid thin plates

We utilized a set of fused silica thin plates to broaden the spectrum of 1kHz, 30 fs Ti:sapphire amplified laser pulses to an octave. Following the compression by chirped mirror pairs, the generated few-cycle pulses were focused onto an argon filled gas cell. We detected high order harmonics corresponding to a train of 209 as pulses, characterized by the reconstruction of attosecond beating by interference of two-photon transition(RABITT) technique. Compared with the conventional attosecond pulse trains, the broad harmonics in such pulse trains cover more energy range, so it is more efficient in studying some typical cases, such as resonances, with frequency resolved RABITT. As the solid thin plates can support high power supercontinuum generation, it is feasible to tailor the spectrum to have different central wavelength and spectral width, which will make the RABITT source work in different applications.     

High-order harmonics in static gas target by 795-nm Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser pulses

The 5th - 23sd high-order harmonics generation in rare gases in static gas target with 120-fs, 85-m J/pulse,10-Hz laser system was investigated. Compared with the traditional gas target, static gas target is simple to be used in experiment, and the experimental parameters can be easily controlled. The effects on highorder harmonics due to laser intensities (energy), polarization, gas densities, confocal parameter, and phase mismatch were studied in this paper.     

Even-order high-harmonic generation from solids in velocity gauge

We present a velocity-gauge model for the generation of even-order high harmonics, and reveal that the even-order harmonics originate from the multiple-step transitions among the energy bands in momentum space, while the odd-order harmonics are mainly from direct transitions. The lower valence band is found vital for the generation of even harmonics. Relative intensity of even-order harmonics versus the odd orders is calculated and shows a growing trend as the laser field amplitude increases.     

Controlling high harmonic generation with molecular wave packets

We show that, by controlling the alignment of molecules, we can influence the high harmonic generation process. We observed strong intensity modulation and spectral shaping of high harmonics produced with a rotational wave packet in a low-density gas of N2 or O2. In N2, where the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) has sigma(g) symmetry, the maximum signal occurs when the molecules are aligned along the laser polarization while the minimum occurs when it is perpendicular. In O2, where the HOMO has pi(g) symmetry, the harmonics are enhanced when the molecules are aligned around 45 degrees to the laser polarization. The symmetry of the molecular orbital can be read by harmonics. Molecular wave packets offer a means of shaping attosecond pulses.     

Bright quasi-phase-matched soft-X-ray harmonic radiation from argon ions

Selective enhancement (>10(3)) of harmonics extending to the water window (approximately 4 nm) generated in an argon gas filled straight bore capillary waveguide is demonstrated. This enhancement is in good agreement with modeling which indicates that multimode quasi-phase-matching is achieved by rapid axial intensity modulations caused by beating between the fundamental and higher-order capillary modes. Substantial pulse energies (>10 nJ per pulse per harmonic order) at wavelengths beyond the carbon K edge (approximately 4.37 nm, approximately 284 eV) up to approximately 360 eV are observed from argon ions for the first time.     

Selection of odd or even harmonics by a multi-color laser field with macroscopic phase-matching

We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate that the property(odd or even) of generated harmonics can be selected by manipulating the macroscopic phase-matching conditions based on a three-color laser field. Only odd or even harmonics can be made dominant by changing the focal position and adjusting the gas pressure. These results indicate that the odd-even property of the generated harmonics can be controlled by using the multi-color laser field with macroscopic phase-matching.     

染料掺杂液晶填充毛细管的激光发射特性研究

本文提出利用染料掺杂液晶填充PI光控取向膜毛细管获得可调谐激光.采用532 nm YAG倍频脉冲激光器抽运,实验及理论研究了有聚酰亚胺(PI)取向膜和无PI取向膜毛细管的激光发射特性,对比分析了两种情形的激光产生阈值以及随温度变化的特性.结果表明:经PI光控取向处理的染料掺杂胆甾相液晶毛细管的激光发射模式具有分布反馈模式和回音壁模式,同时,激光产生阈值为4.5 m J·mm~(-2);发现当温度升高时,发射光谱发生"蓝移",中心波长调谐范围为5.9 nm,温度升高到43℃时,形成质量非常好的回音壁模式,其自由光谱范围为1.05 nm.经PI光控取向处理的染料掺杂向列相液晶激光发射模式为随机激光,并且较无PI取向时激光发射峰减少.     

Soft-x-ray wavelength shift induced by ionization effects in a capillary

Coherent soft x rays are produced by high-harmonic generation in a capillary filled with Ar gas. We demonstrate that the tuning of the harmonic wavelengths with intensity and chirp arises from changes in the Ar ionization level. Control over the tuning can be achieved either by changing the average intensity of the laser pulse or by varying the quadratic spectral phase of the laser pulse. We observe an ionization-dependent blueshift of the fundamental wavelength that is directly imprinted on the harmonic wavelengths. The harmonic tuning is shown to depend on nonlinear spectral shifts of the fundamental laser pulse that are due to the plasma created by ionization, rather than directly on any chirp imposed on the fundamental wavelength.     

介质的非均匀性对高次谐波影响的研究

讨论了气体介质的非均匀性对飞秒激光高次谐波产生过程的可能影响.计算结果表明,采用喷阀技术所提供的气体介质的密度梯度和气体原子运动速度的影响很小,不会产生实验上可观测的效果.这一结果支持了喷气靶在高次谐波产生中的广泛应用 关键词： 高次谐波 气体介质 各向异性 飞秒激光     

High-order harmonic generation up to 250 eV from highly ionized argon

We demonstrate the generation of very high-order harmonics, up to 250 eV, using argon gas. This extends by 100 eV the highest harmonics previously observed using Ar and exceeds the energies observed using any other medium besides helium. This advance is made possible by using a waveguide geometry to limit plasma-induced laser beam defocusing, making it possible to generate high harmonics from Ar ions. This work shows that high harmonic emission from ions can extend laser-based coherent up-conversion into the soft x-ray region of the spectrum.     

利用氩获得795 nm飞秒激光在静态气室中的高次谐波

报道了120 fs/795 nm的Ti∶sapphire飞秒激光在静态气体靶室中利用稀有气体氩作为非线性介质的高次谐波辐射,在静态靶室中获得高次谐波辐射,较常用的气体喷嘴具有结构简单,实验容易操作等优点,实验中在42 mJ和7. 5 mJ线偏振激光驱动下观察了谐波辐射谱随气压变化情况     

Coherent focusing of high harmonics: a new way towards the extreme intensities

We demonstrate analytically and numerically that focusing of high harmonics produced by the reflection of a few-femtosecond laser pulse from a concave plasma surface opens a new way to unprecedentally high intensities. The key features allowing the boosting of the focal intensity are the harmonics coherency and the small exponent of the power-law decay of the harmonics spectrum. Using similarity theory and direct particle-in-cell simulations, we find that the intensity at the focus scales as I(CHF) alpha a(3)(0)I(0), where a(0) and I(0) alpha a(2)(0) are the dimensionless relativistic amplitude and the intensity of the incident laser pulse. The scaling suggests that due to the coherent harmonic focusing (CHF), the Schwinger intensity limit can be reached using lasers with I(0) approximately 10(22) W/cm(2). The pulse duration at the focus scales as tau(CHF) alpha 1/a(2)(0) and reaches the subattosecond range.     

High harmonic generation in a laser plasma

The results of investigation of high harmonics of radiation of a Ti:sapphire laser propagating through a laser plasma generated on the surface of different targets are presented. For most of the targets, the intensity distribution of the high harmonics generated is found to form a plateaulike pattern similar to that observed in the case of gas jets. The generation of high harmonics (up to the 65th harmonic, λ = 12.24 nm) is caused by the interaction of femtosecond laser radiation with ions. The conversion efficiency in the plateau region varies from 10^?7 to 8 × 10^?5 depending on the target. The main restriction on the conversion efficiency and the peak intensity of the harmonics generated is caused by the self-defocusing of the femtosecond radiation due to free charge carriers formed as a result of tunnel ionization.