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Self-compression of attosecond high-order harmonic pulses
Kyung Taec Kim1, Kyung Sik Kang, Mi Na Park
1Department of Physics and Coherent X-Ray Research Center, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 305-701, Korea.
Physical Review Letters
|February 1, 2008
Summary
Researchers demonstrated self-compression of attosecond pulses using argon gas. Adjusting gas pressure allowed for continuous chirp control, resulting in the most intense and near transform-limited attosecond pulses.
Area of Science:
- Ultrafast science
- Attosecond physics
- Nonlinear optics
Background:
- Attosecond high-order harmonic pulses are crucial for probing ultrafast phenomena.
- Pulse compression is essential for achieving high temporal resolution.
- Existing compression techniques can be complex and require separate components.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate self-compression of attosecond pulses within the harmonic generation medium.
- To achieve continuous chirp control by modifying the properties of the medium.
- To generate intense, near transform-limited attosecond pulses.
Main Methods:
- Generation of high-order harmonic pulses in an argon-filled gas cell.
- Exploitation of the dispersion characteristics of argon for pulse compression.
- Adjustment of gas pressure to control the chirp and optimize pulse duration.
Main Results:
- Successful self-compression of attosecond pulses was achieved.
- Continuous chirp control was realized by varying argon pressure.
- The optimized attosecond pulse exhibited maximum intensity and a duration of 206 as, close to the transform limit of 200 as.
Conclusions:
- Self-compression within the harmonic generation medium is a viable technique for attosecond pulse shaping.
- Argon gas offers tunable dispersion for effective pulse compression.
- This method simplifies the generation of intense, ultrashort attosecond pulses.
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