Improving the efficiency of high harmonic generation (HHG) by Ne-admixing into a pure Ar gas medium

Laser-based higher-order harmonic generation has been investigated extensively in the past two decades. The current manuscript deals with the high harmonic generation (HHG) outputs from a gas-filled waveguide when using mixtures of two rare gases (Ar and Ne) as nonlinear media. We find that the efficiency of the HHG process can be optimized by changing the pressure or alternatively the mixing ratio of the two gases. This is attributed to the fact that both of these parameters have an effect on the phase-matching in the waveguide. These observations are especially useful when phase matching in a gas jet is concerned, where the absolute local pressure of the gas media cannot be controlled as readily as in a capillary-based HHG setup

Real-time observation of valence electron motion

The superposition of quantum states drives motion on the atomic and subatomic scales, with the energy spacing of the states dictating the speed of the motion. In the case of electrons residing in the outer (valence) shells of atoms and molecules which are separated by electronvolt energies, this means that valence electron motion occurs on a subfemtosecond to few-femtosecond timescale (1 fs = 10(-15) s). In the absence of complete measurements, the motion can be characterized in terms of a complex quantity, the density matrix. Here we report an attosecond pump-probe measurement of the density matrix of valence electrons in atomic krypton ions. We generate the ions with a controlled few-cycle laser field and then probe them through the spectrally resolved absorption of an attosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulse, which allows us to observe in real time the subfemtosecond motion of valence electrons over a multifemtosecond time span. We are able to completely characterize the quantum mechanical electron motion and determine its degree of coherence in the specimen of the ensemble. Although the present study uses a simple, prototypical open system, attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy should be applicable to molecules and solid-state materials to reveal the elementary electron motions that control physical, chemical and biological properties and processes