Attosecond spectroscopy for filming the ultrafast movies of atoms, molecules and solids

• Published in: Chinese physics B Vol. 31; no. 12; pp. 123301 - 25
• Main Authors: He, Lixin, Zhu, Xiaosong, Cao, Wei, Lan, Pengfei, Lu, Peixiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chinese Physical Society and IOP Publishing Ltd 01.12.2022; Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics and School of Physics,Huazhong University of Science and Technology,Wuhan 430074,China%Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics and School of Physics,Huazhong University of Science and Technology,Wuhan 430074,China; Optical Valley Laboratory,Hubei 430074,China
• Subjects: attosecond science; high harmonic generation; strong-field physics; ultrafast spectroscopy; high harmonic generation; strong-field physics; attosecond science; ultrafast spectroscopy
• ISSN: 1674-1056; 2058-3834
• DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/aca6d2

Three decades ago, a highly nonlinear nonpertubative phenomenon, now well-known as the high harmonic generation (HHG), was discovered when intense laser irradiates gaseous atoms. As the HHG produces broadband coherent radiation, it becomes the most promising source to obtain attosecond pulses. The door to the attosecond science was opened ever since. In this review, we will revisit the incredible adventure to the attoworld. Firstly, the progress of attosecond pulse generation is outlined. Then, we introduce the efforts on imaging the structures or filming the ultrafast dynamics of nuclei and electrons with unprecedented attosecond temporal and Angstrom spatial resolutions, utilizing the obtained attosecond pulses as well as the high harmonic spectrum itself.