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High-harmonic generation

Solid progress

Nature Physics volume 7, pages 97–98 (2011)Cite this article

The nonlinear optical process of high-order harmonic generation is usually seen in atomic gases. Now, the process has been observed in a bulk crystalline solid, with important implications for ultrafast coherent short-wavelength sources and perhaps attosecond science.

When matter is illuminated by a strong, non-resonant laser field it will emit new fields at odd multiples of the laser frequency. These are known as harmonics and can have frequencies significantly higher than the usual resonant frequencies of the material. Such high-harmonic generation (HHG) has been widely studied in gas-phase atoms and molecules. Now, as reported in Nature Physics1, Shambhu Ghimire and co-workers have seen high-harmonic emission from a crystalline solid, achieved by using intense short pulses of 3.3-μm-wavelength laser light to excite, without damage, a zinc oxide crystal.

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Figure 1: Wavelengths and field strengths required for HHG.

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  1. Jon P. Marangos is at the Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK. j.marangos@imperial.ac.uk,

    Jon P. Marangos

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  1. Jon P. Marangos
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Marangos, J. Solid progress. Nature Phys 7, 97–98 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1913

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