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arXiv · 2104.03625

A custom-tailored multi-TW optical electric field for gigawatt soft-x-ray isolated attosecond pulses

Bing Xue·Yuuki Tamaru·Yuxi Fu·Hua Yuan·Pengfei Lan·Oliver D. Mücke·Akira Suda·Katsumi Midorikawa·Eiji J. Takahashi
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Abstract

The bottleneck for an attosecond science experiment is concluded to be the lack of a high-peak-power isolated attosecond pulse source. Therefore, currently, generating an intense attosecond pulse would be one of the highest priority goals. In this paper, we review a TW-class parallel three-channel waveform synthesizer for generating a gigawatt-scale soft-x-ray isolated attosecond pulse (IAP) using high-order harmonics generation (HHG). Simultaneously, using several stabilization methods, namely, the low-repetition-rate laser carrier-envelope phase stabilization, Mach-Zehnder interferometer, balanced optical cross-correlator, and beam-pointing stabilizer, we demonstrate a stable 50-mJ three-channel optical-waveform synthesizer with a peak power at the multi-TW level. This optical-waveform synthesizer is capable of creating a stable intense optical field for generating an intense continuum harmonic beam thanks to the successful stabilization of all the parameters. Furthermore, the precision control of shot-to-shot reproducible synthesized waveforms is achieved. Through the HHG process employing a loose-focusing geometry, an intense shot-to-shot stable supercontinuum (50-70 eV) is generated in an argon gas cell. This continuum spectrum supports an IAP with a transform-limited duration of 170 as and a submicrojoule pulse energy, which allows the generation of a GW-scale IAP. Another supercontinuum in the soft-x-ray region with higher photon energy of approximately 100-130 eV is also generated in neon gas from the synthesizer. The transform-limited pulse duration is 106 as. According to this work, the enhancement of HHG output through optimized waveform synthesis is experimentally proved. The high-energy multicycle pulse with 10-Hz repetition rate is proved to have the same controllability for optimized waveform synthesis for HHG as few- or subcycle pulses from a 1-kHz laser.

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Bing Xue, Yuuki Tamaru, Yuxi Fu, Hua Yuan, Pengfei Lan, Oliver D. Mücke, Akira Suda, Katsumi Midorikawa, Eiji J. Takahashi. 2021-04-08. A custom-tailored multi-TW optical electric field for gigawatt soft-x-ray isolated attosecond pulses. https://doi.org/10.34133/2021%2F9828026

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