Phase-matched high-order harmonic generation in pre-ionized noble gases

One of the main difficulties of efficiently generating high-order harmonics in long neutral-gas targets is to reach the phase-matching conditions. The issue is that the medium cannot be sufficiently ionized by the driving laser due to plasma defocusing. We propose a method to improve the phase-match...

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Published inScientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 7715
Main Authors Finke, O., Vábek, J., Nevrkla, M., Bobrova, N., Hort, O., Jurkovičová, L., Albrecht, M., Jančárek, A., Catoire, F., Skupin, S., Nejdl, J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 11.05.2022
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects
639/624/400/1106
639/766/400/3923
Atomic Physics
Gases
Humanities and Social Sciences
Krypton
Lasers
multidisciplinary
Optics
Physics
Plasma Physics
Propagation
Radiation
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Simulation
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Summary:One of the main difficulties of efficiently generating high-order harmonics in long neutral-gas targets is to reach the phase-matching conditions. The issue is that the medium cannot be sufficiently ionized by the driving laser due to plasma defocusing. We propose a method to improve the phase-matching by pre-ionizing the gas using a weak capillary discharge. We have demonstrated this mechanism, for the first time, in absorption-limited XUV generation by an 800 nm femtosecond laser in argon and krypton. The ability to control phase-mismatch is confirmed by an analytical model and numerical simulations of the entire generation process. Our method allows to increase the efficiency of the harmonic generation significantly, paving the way towards photon-hungry applications of these compact short-wavelength sources.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-022-11313-6