53-attosecond X-ray pulses reach the carbon K-edge

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 186 - 5
• Main Authors: Li, Jie, Ren, Xiaoming, Yin, Yanchun, Zhao, Kun, Chew, Andrew, Cheng, Yan, Cunningham, Eric, Wang, Yang, Hu, Shuyuan, Wu, Yi, Chini, Michael, Chang, Zenghu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 04.08.2017; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/624/400/1106; 639/766/400/3923; Absorption; Attosecond pulses; Biological samples; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Soft x rays; X-rays
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00321-0

The motion of electrons in the microcosm occurs on a time scale set by the atomic unit of time—24 attoseconds. Attosecond pulses at photon energies corresponding to the fundamental absorption edges of matter, which lie in the soft X-ray regime above 200 eV, permit the probing of electronic excitation, chemical state, and atomic structure. Here we demonstrate a soft X-ray pulse duration of 53 as and single pulse streaking reaching the carbon K-absorption edge (284 eV) by utilizing intense two-cycle driving pulses near 1.8-μm center wavelength. Such pulses permit studies of electron dynamics in live biological samples and next-generation electronic materials such as diamond. Isolated attosecond pulses are produced using high harmonic generation and sources of these pulses often suffer from low photon flux in soft X-ray regime. Here the authors demonstrate efficient generation and characterization of 53 as pulses with photon energy near the water window.