No Arabic abstract
High-order harmonic generation in gas targets is a widespread scheme used to produce extreme ultraviolet radiation, however, it has a limited microscopic efficiency. Macroscopic enhancement of the produced radiation relies on phase-matching, often only achievable in quasi-phase-matching arrangements. In the present work we numerically study quasi-phase-matching induced by low-intensity assisting fields. We investigate the required assisting field strength dependence on the wavelength and intensity of the driving field, harmonic order, trajectory class and period of the assisting field. We comment on the optimal spatial beam profile of the assisting field.
High-order harmonic generation in the presence of a chirped THz pulse is investigated numerically with a complete 3D non-adiabatic model. The assisting THz pulse illuminates the HHG gas cell laterally inducing quasi-phase-matching. We demonstrate that it is possible to compensate the phase mismatch during propagation and extend the macroscopic cutoff of a propagated strong IR pulse to the single-dipole cutoff. We obtain two orders of magnitude increase in the harmonic efficiency of cutoff harmonics ($approx$170 eV) using a THz pulse of constant wavelength, and a further factor of 3 enhancement when a chirped THz pulse is used.
In this work we numerically study a self-guiding process in which ionization plays a dominant role and analyze its effect on high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in gases. Although this type of self-guiding --- termed as plasma-core induced self-guiding in previous works --- limits the achievable cut-off by regulating the intensity of the laser beam, it provides favorable conditions for phase matching, which is indispensable for high-flux gas high-harmonic sources. To underline the role of self-guiding in efficient HHG, we investigate the time-dependent phase matching conditions in the guided beam and show how the spatio-temporally constant fundamental intensity contributes to the constructive build-up of the harmonic field in a broad photon-energy range up to the provided cut-off.
Isolated attosecond pulses (IAPs) produced through laser-driven high-harmonic generation (HHG) hold promise for unprecedented insight into biological processes via attosecond x-ray diffraction with tabletop sources. However, efficient scaling of HHG towards x-ray energies has been hampered by ionization-induced plasma generation impeding the coherent buildup of high-harmonic radiation. Recently, it has been shown that these limitations can be overcome in the so-called overdriven regime where ionization loss and plasma dispersion strongly modify the driving laser pulse over small distances, albeit without demonstrating IAPs. Here, we report on experiments comparing the generation of IAPs in argon and neon at 80 eV via attosecond streaking measurements. Contrasting our experimental results with numerical simulations, we conclude that IAPs in argon are generated through ionization-induced transient phase-matching gating effective over distances on the order of 100 $mu$m. We show that the decay of the intensity and blue-shift due to plasma defocussing are crucial for allowing phase-matching close to the XUV cutoff at high plasma densities. We perform simulations for different gases and wavelengths and show that the mechanism is important for the phase-matching of long-wavelength, tightly-focused laser beams in high-pressure gas targets, which are currently being employed for scaling isolated attosecond pulse generation to x-ray photon energies.
The main effects of an intense THz pulse on gas high harmonic generation are studied via trajectory analysis on the single atom level. Spectral and temporal modifications to the generated radiation are highlighted.
High-harmonic generation (HHG) provides short-wavelength light that is useful for precision spectroscopy and probing ultrafast dynamics. We report efficient, phase-coherent harmonic generation up to 9th-order (333 nm) in chirped periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides driven by phase-stable $leq$12-nJ, 100 fs pulses at 3 $mu$m with 100 MHz repetition rate. A mid-infrared to ultraviolet-visible conversion efficiency as high as 10% is observed, amongst an overall 23% conversion of the fundamental to all harmonics. We verify the coherence of the harmonic frequency combs despite the complex highly nonlinear process. Numerical simulations based on a single broadband envelope equation with quadratic nonlinearity give estimates for the conversion efficiency within approximately 1 order of magnitude over a wide range of experimental parameters. From this comparison we identify a dimensionless parameter capturing the competition between three-wave mixing and group-velocity walk-off of the harmonics that governs the cascaded HHG physics. These results can inform cascaded HHG in a range of different platforms.