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High-energy attosecond light sources

Nature Photonics volume 5, pages 655–663 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

The development of attosecond technology is one of the most significant achievements in the field of ultrafast optics over the past decade. Since the first experimental demonstration of attosecond pulses just ten years ago, novel techniques have been introduced for the generation, characterization and application of subfemtosecond pulses. The development of attosecond tools is continuously triggering the introduction of new spectroscopic and measurement methods, which will offer the opportunity to investigate unexplored research areas with unprecedented time resolution. The wealth of ultrafast processes, which can be investigated by taking advantage of attosecond temporal resolution, can be greatly extended by the development of high-intensity attosecond sources. This Review covers a selection of recent advances in the field of attosecond technology, with particular attention being given to the generation and application of high-energy attosecond pulses.

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Figure 1: Isolated attosecond pulses from gases.
Figure 2: Temporal gating.
Figure 3: Ionization gating: electron quantum path analysis.
Figure 4: Isolated attosecond pulses by harmonic generation from a solid surface.
Figure 5: Attosecond nonlinear Fourier transform spectroscopy.
Figure 6: Attosecond pump–probe experiment for investigating electron motion inside an atom.

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Acknowledgements

The research leading to the results presented in this Review received funding from the European Research Council under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement n.227355-ELYCHE. The authors acknowledge financial support from the Italian Ministry of Research (FIRB-IDEAS RBID08CRXK), support from the European Union under contract n.228334 JRA-ALADIN (Laserlab Europe II) and from MC-RTN ATTOFEL (FP7-238362). G.S. acknowledges financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (project Tirinto).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Politecnico di Milano, National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnologies, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, Milano, 20133, Italy

    Giuseppe Sansone & Mauro Nisoli

  2. National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnologies, Via Trasea 7, Padova, 35131, Italy

    Luca Poletto

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Correspondence to Mauro Nisoli.

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Sansone, G., Poletto, L. & Nisoli, M. High-energy attosecond light sources. Nature Photon 5, 655–663 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2011.167

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