Tunable high harmonic pulses from nanorings swirled by optical vortices

Irradiating intercalated nanorings by optical vortices ignites a charge flow that emits coherent trains of high harmonic bursts with frequencies and time structures that are controllable by the topological charge of the driving vortex beam. Similar to synchrotron radiation, the polarization of emitted harmonics is also selectable by tuning to the appropriate emission angle with respect to the ring plane. The nonequilibrium orbital magnetic moment triggered in a ring tunnels quantum mechanically to smaller and larger rings leading respectively to high and low-frequency harmonic generation. The frequencies of the emitted harmonics are tunable by simply changing the waist and/or the winding number of the optical vortex, without the need to increase the pulse intensity which can lead to material damage. These findings follow from full-fledged quantum dynamic simulations for realistic material and laser parameters. The proposed setup is non-destructive as only short vortex pulses of moderate intensities are needed, and it offers a versatile tool for nanoscale optical and spectroscopic applications such as local, single beam pump-probe experiments.