Abstract
Continuing efforts in ultrashort pulse engineering have recently led to the breakthroughs of the generation of attosecond (10−18 s) pulse trains1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and isolated pulses8,9,10,11. Although trains of multiple pulses can be generated through the interaction of many-optical-cycle pulses with gases—a process that has led to intense extreme-ultraviolet emission3,4,5—the generation of isolated high-intensity pulses, which requires few-cycle driving pulses, remains a challenge. Here, we report a vital step towards the generation of such pulses, the production of broad continuum extreme-ultraviolet emission using a high-intensity, many-cycle, infrared pulsed laser, through the interferometric modulation of the ellipticity of 50-fs-long driving pulses. The increasing availability of high-power many-cycle lasers and their potential use in the construction of intense attosecond radiation—with either gas or solid-surface targets12—offer exciting opportunities for multiphoton extreme-ultraviolet-pump–extreme-ultraviolet-probe studies of laser–matter and laser–plasma interactions.
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Acknowledgements
This work is supported in part by the European Community’s Human Potential Program under contract MRTN-CT-2003-505138 (XTRA); MTKD-CT-2004-517145 (X-HOMES); the Ultraviolet Laser Facility (ULF) operating at FORTH-IESL (contract no. HPRI-CT-2001-00139) and the P14 COST programme.
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Tzallas, P., Skantzakis, E., Kalpouzos, C. et al. Generation of intense continuum extreme-ultraviolet radiation by many-cycle laser fields. Nature Phys 3, 846–850 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys747
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys747
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