Isolated sub-fs XUV pulse generation in Mn plasma ablation

We report studies of high-order harmonic generation in laser-produced manganese plasmas using sub-4-fs drive laser pulses. The measured spectra exhibit resonant enhancement of a small spectral region of about 2.5 eV width around the 31st harmonic (~50eV). The intensity contrast relative to the directly adjacent harmonics exceeds one order of magnitude. This finding is in sharp contrast to the results reported previously for multi-cycle laser pulses [Physical Review A 76, 023831 (2007)]. Theoretical modelling suggests that the enhanced harmonic emission forms an isolated sub-femtosecond pulse.