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Extreme-ultraviolet frequency combs for precision metrology and attosecond science

Nature Photonics volume 15, pages 175–186 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Femtosecond mode-locked lasers producing visible/infrared frequency combs have steadily advanced our understanding of fundamental processes in nature. For example, optical clocks employ frequency-comb techniques for the most precise measurements of time, permitting the search for minuscule drifts of natural constants. Furthermore, the generation of extreme-ultraviolet attosecond bursts synchronized to the electric field of visible/infrared femtosecond pulses affords real-time measurements of electron dynamics in matter. Cavity-enhanced high-order harmonic generation sources uniquely combine broadband vacuum- and extreme-ultraviolet spectral coverage with multimegahertz pulse repetition rates and coherence properties akin to those of frequency combs. Here we review the coming of age of this technology and its recent applications and prospects, including precision frequency-comb spectroscopy of electronic and potentially nuclear transitions, and low-space-charge attosecond-temporal-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy with nearly 100% temporal detection duty cycle.

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Fig. 1: Representative selection of state-of-the-art HHG sources.
Fig. 2: Mode of operation of cavity-enhanced HHG.
Fig. 3: Nonlinearity-induced intensity limitations.
Fig. 4: XUV output coupling methods.
Fig. 5: XUV frequency-comb coherence and spectroscopy.
Fig. 6: PES employing cavity-enhanced HHG.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Benko, J. Weitenberg, M. Weidman and L. von der Wense for valuable discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany

    Ioachim Pupeza & Maximilian Högner

  2. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Ioachim Pupeza

  3. JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    Chuankun Zhang & Jun Ye

  4. Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    Chuankun Zhang & Jun Ye

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  1. Ioachim Pupeza
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Pupeza, I., Zhang, C., Högner, M. et al. Extreme-ultraviolet frequency combs for precision metrology and attosecond science. Nat. Photonics 15, 175–186 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-020-00741-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-020-00741-3

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