High harmonic generation in condensed and engineered materials:introduction

The emerging field of high harmonic generation in condensed matter systems lies at the confluence of strong-field physics, ultrafast optics, and nanotechnology and offers numerous avenues for fundamental research and applications. The goals of this JOSA B feature issue on high harmonic generation in condensed and engineered materials are to facilitate interaction between the different communities and to provide an up-to-date snapshot of the current status of this rapidly developing interdisciplinary field at the frontier of condensed materials and ultrafast physics.</p

High-order harmonic generation using a high-repetition-rate turnkey laser

We generate high-order harmonics at high pulse repetition rates using a turnkey laser. High-order harmonics at 400 kHz are observed when argon is used as target gas. In neon we achieve generation of photons with energies exceeding 90 eV ($\sim$13 nm) at 20 kHz. We measure a photon flux of 4.4$\cdot10^{10}$ photons per second per harmonic in argon at 100 kHz. Many experiments employing high-order harmonics would benefit from higher repetition rates, and the user-friendly operation opens up for applications of coherent extreme ultra-violet pulses in new research areas

Achromatic dual-waveplate for inline two color high-order harmonic generation

Abstract: We propose a design of an achromatic dual-waveplate intended to align the polarization of orthogonal two-color pulses in an inline configuration. The waveplate acts as a half-waveplate for pulses with a carrier wavelength of 1300 nm over a bandwidth of 300 nm. For the second harmonic of the pulses the waveplate acts as a full-waveplate, centered at 650 nm with a bandwidth of 100 nm. By experimentally measuring the transmission of this optic when placed between two parallel linear polarizers we show that the polarization directions are aligned as expected. This experiment is then verified by calculating the transmission through the optic using Jones calculus. This waveplate could be useful in two-color experiments with few-cycle pulses, or pulses with a tunable wavelength, that need to be aligned with their second harmonics. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Free induction decay in the extreme ultraviolet

We present an experimental study of controlled Free Induction Decay (FID) in the extreme ultraviolet regime excited by High-order Harmonics. The control is done by applying a delayed infrared pulse

Sub-cycle ionization dynamics revealed by trajectory resolved, elliptically-driven high-order harmonic generation

The sub-cycle dynamics of electrons driven by strong laser fields is central to the emerging field of attosecond science. We demonstrate how the dynamics can be probed through high-order harmonic generation, where different trajectories leading to the same harmonic order are initiated at different times, thereby probing different field strengths. We find large differences between the trajectories with respect to both their sensitivity to driving field ellipticity and resonant enhancement. To accurately describe the ellipticity dependence of the long trajectory harmonics we must include a sub-cycle change of the initial velocity distribution of the electron and its excursion time. The resonant enhancement is observed only for the long trajectory contribution of a particular harmonic when a window resonance in argon, which is off-resonant in the field-free case, is shifted into resonance due to a large dynamic Stark shift

Direct Observation of Ultrafast Exciton Localization in an Organic Semiconductor with Soft X-ray Transient Absorption Spectroscopy

We report the first demonstration of time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy to track previously undetected photoinduced dynamics of a paradigmatic crystalline conjugated polymer: poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) commonly used in solar cell devices. The pi to pi* transition, the first step of solar energy conversion, is pumped with a 15 fs optical pulse and the dynamics are probed by an attosecond soft X-ray pulse at the carbon K-edge. We observe direct spectroscopic signatures of the initially hot excitonic state, which is delocalized over multiple polymer chains, undergoing a rapid evolution on a sub 50 fs timescale which can be directly associated with cooling and localization to form the lowest excitonic state on a single polymer chain. This sensitivity of time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy to the primary electron dynamics occurring directly after excitation paves the way for new insights in a wide range of organic optoelectronic materials

Space–time control of free induction decay in the extreme ultraviolet

Ultrafast extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) and X-ray sources are revolutionizing our ability to follow femtosecond processes with ångström-scale resolution. The next frontier is to simultaneously control the direction, duration and timing of such radiation. Here, we demonstrate a fully functional opto-optical modulator for XUV light, similar to modulators available at infrared (IR) and visible wavelengths. It works by using an IR pulse to control the spatial and spectral phase of the free induction decay that results from using attosecond pulses to excite a gas. The modulator allows us to send the XUV light in a direction of our choosing at a time of our choosing. The inherent synchronization of the XUV emission to the control pulse will allow laser-pump/X-ray probe experiments with sub-femtosecond time resolution

Attosecond pulse walk-off in high-order harmonic generation

We study the influence of the generation conditions on the group delay of attosecond pulses in high-order harmonic generation in gases. The group delay relative to the fundamental field is found to decrease with increasing gas pressure in the generation cell, reflecting a temporal walk-off due to the dispersive properties of the nonlinear medium. This effect is well reproduced using an on-axis phase-matching model of high-order harmonic generation in an absorbing gas. (C) 2014 Optical Society of Americ

High repetition rate XUV laser source based on OPCPA for photoemission electron microscopy applications

We present a 200 kHz XUV source driven by an optical parametric chirped pulse amplification system. The advantage for photoemission electron microscopy of this high-repetition rate will be discussed