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  • Review Article
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The generation, characterization and applications of broadband isolated attosecond pulses

Nature Photonics volume 8, pages 178–186 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

The generation of extremely short isolated attosecond pulses requires both a broad spectral bandwidth and control of the spectral phase. Rapid progress has been made in both aspects, leading to the generation of light pulses as short as 67 as in 2012, and broadband attosecond continua covering a wide range of extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray wavelengths. Such pulses have been successfully applied in photoelectron and photoion spectroscopy and recently developed attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy to study electron dynamics in matter. In this Review, we discuss significant recent advances in the generation, characterization and applications of ultrabroadband, isolated attosecond pulses with spectral bandwidths comparable to the central frequency. These pulses can in principle be compressed to a single optical cycle.

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Figure 1: Gating an ultrabroadband isolated attosecond pulse.
Figure 2: Attosecond pulse characterization.
Figure 3: Conventional methods for attosecond pulse compression.
Figure 4: Schematic of attosecond electron interferometry and attosecond transient absorption measurements in helium.

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Acknowledgements

This work is funded by the DARPA PULSE program by a grant from AMRDEC, the National Science Foundation and the Army Research Office.

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  1. CREOL and Department of Physics, Institute for the Frontier of Attosecond Science and Technology (iFAST), University of Central Florida, Orlando, 32816, Florida, USA

    Michael Chini, Kun Zhao & Zenghu Chang

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Correspondence to Zenghu Chang.

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Chini, M., Zhao, K. & Chang, Z. The generation, characterization and applications of broadband isolated attosecond pulses. Nature Photon 8, 178–186 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2013.362

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