Isolated attosecond pulses using a detuned second-harmonic field

Hamed Merdji (1, 2) , Thierry Auguste (1) , Willem Boutu (1) , J.-Pascal Caumes (1) , Bernard Carré (1) , Thomas Pfeifer (3, 4, 5) , Aurélie Jullien (3, 4, 5) , Daniel M. Neumark (3, 4, 5) , Stephen R. Leone (3, 4, 5)

1 SPAM - Service des Photons, Atomes et Molécules
2 Stanford PULSE Center
3 CSD - Chemical Sciences Division [LBNL Berkeley]
4 Department of Physics [Berkeley]
5 Department of Chemistry [Berkeley]

Calculations are presented for the generation of an isolated attosecond pulse in a multicycle two-color strong-field regime. We show that the recollision of the electron wave packet can be confined to half an optical cycle using pulses of up to 40 fs in duration. The scheme is proven to be efficient using two intense beams, one producing a strong field at ω and the other a strong field detuned from 2ω. The slight detuning δω of the second harmonic is used to break the symmetry of the electric field over many optical cycles and provides a coherent control for the formation of an isolated attosecond pulse.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Hamed Merdji, Thierry Auguste, Willem Boutu, J.-Pascal Caumes, Bernard Carré, et al.. Isolated attosecond pulses using a detuned second-harmonic field. Optics Letters, 2007, 32 (21), pp.3134-3136. ⟨10.1364/OL.32.003134⟩. ⟨hal-00553215⟩