Attosecond Lighthouses: How To Use Spatiotemporally Coupled Light Fields To Generate Isolated Attosecond Pulses

H. Vincenti and F. Quéré
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 113904 – Published 16 March 2012
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Abstract

Under the effect of even simple optical components, the spatial properties of femtosecond laser beams can vary over the duration of the light pulse. We show how using such spatiotemporally coupled light fields in high harmonic generation experiments (e.g., in gases or dense plasmas) enables the production of attosecond lighthouses, i.e., sources emitting a collection of angularly well-separated light beams, each consisting of an isolated attosecond pulse. This general effect opens the way to a new generation of light sources, particularly suitable for attosecond pump-probe experiments, and provides a new tool for ultrafast metrology, for instance, giving direct access to fluctuations of the carrier-envelope relative phase of even the most intense ultrashort lasers.

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  • Received 23 September 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.113904

© 2012 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

H. Vincenti and F. Quéré*

  • CEA, IRAMIS, Service des Photons Atomes et Molécules, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

  • *Corresponding author. fabien.quere@cea.fr

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Issue

Vol. 108, Iss. 11 — 16 March 2012

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