Abstract
High-order harmonic generation from atoms ionized by femtosecond laser pulses has been a promising approach for the development of coherent short-wavelength sources. However, the realization of a powerful harmonic X-ray source has been hampered by a phase velocity mismatch between the driving wave and its harmonics, limiting their coherent build-up to a short propagation length and thereby compromising the efficiency of a single source. Here, we report coherent superposition of laser-driven soft-X-ray (SXR) harmonics, at wavelengths of 2–5 nm, generated in two successive sources by one and the same laser pulse. Observation of constructive and destructive interference suggests the feasibility of quasi-phase-matched SXR harmonic generation by a focused laser beam in a gas medium of modulated density. Our proof-of-concept study opens the prospect of enhancing the photon flux of SXR harmonic sources to levels enabling researchers to tackle a range of applications in physical as well as life sciences.
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Acknowledgements
This study has been sponsored by the Austrian Science Fund (grant Nos F016 P02, P03 and Z63), the DFG grant SP 687/1-3 and the DFG Cluster of Excellence Munich Centre for Advanced Photonics—MAP (http://www.munich-photonics.de). We gratefully acknowledge gas-flow simulations by K. Schmid and friendly support from A. Baltuska.
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Seres, J., Yakovlev, V., Seres, E. et al. Coherent superposition of laser-driven soft-X-ray harmonics from successive sources. Nature Phys 3, 878–883 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys775
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys775
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