Abstract
We explore experimentally and numerically the physics underlying the optimization of high-order harmonic generation by intense laser pulses, whose temporal profile is tailored by a learning genetic algorithm. Based on a large set of optimization data obtained under different generation parameters, we show that the algorithm converges toward a class of very special profiles on the leading edge of the pulse. The behavior of the harmonic signal is then compared with theoretical simulations based on the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, allowing one to identify separately the role of microscopic and macroscopic phenomena in the temporal dynamics of high-harmonic generation and optimization.
2 More- Received 18 July 2007
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.76.063811
©2007 American Physical Society