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Measuring and controlling the birth of attosecond XUV pulses

Nature Physics volume 2, pages 781–786 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Generating attosecond pulses has required a radically different approach from previous ultrafast optical methods. The technology of attosecond measurement, however, is built on established methods of characterizing femtosecond pulses: the pulse is measured after it has left the region where it was produced. We offer a completely different approach: in situ measurement. That is, we integrate attosecond-pulse production and measurement in a manner that can be applied to many high-order nonlinear interactions. To demonstrate this approach, we combine a low-intensity (<10−3) second-harmonic beam with the fundamental beam, to gently perturb the production process without significantly modifying it. The attosecond-pulse duration is read from the modulation of the even-harmonic signal as a function of the two-field delay. Increasing the second-harmonic intensity slightly (<10−2), we extend measurement to control. We demonstrate control by manipulating the high-harmonic spectrum with high efficiency.

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Figure 1: Graphic description of the symmetry breaking between two electron trajectories induced by the addition of the second harmonic field.
Figure 2: The harmonic spectrum is shown versus the phase difference between the fundamental and second-harmonic fields.
Figure 3: The reconstruction procedure for the harmonics’ time of emission.
Figure 4: Measurement of the spatio-temporal profile of the 20th harmonic.
Figure 5: When the intensity of the second-harmonic field is increased to 5×10−3 of the fundamental intensity, control of the odd harmonics becomes possible.
Figure 6: Schematic description of the experimental set-up.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank D. Zeidler and M. Gertsvolf for discussions and experimental help. Financial support by the Israeli Rothschild foundation and NSERC is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada

    N. Dudovich, O. Smirnova, J. Levesque, Y. Mairesse, M. Yu. Ivanov, D. M. Villeneuve & P. B. Corkum

  2. INRS-EMT, 1650 boulevard Lionel-Boulet, CP 1020, Varennes, Québec J3X 1S2, Canada

    J. Levesque

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  1. N. Dudovich
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  2. O. Smirnova
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Correspondence to N. Dudovich or P. B. Corkum.

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Dudovich, N., Smirnova, O., Levesque, J. et al. Measuring and controlling the birth of attosecond XUV pulses. Nature Phys 2, 781–786 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys434

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