arXiv subjects

Subhendu Kahaly

Publications and source records attributed to Subhendu Kahaly.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Density-gradient effect in high-harmonic generation in gases

High-harmonic generation (HHG) in gaseous targets is the most widespread method to produce coherent extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulses with sub-femtosecond duration. However, this process has intrinsically low efficiency, and substantial research and development is devoted worldwide to increase the achievable photon flux through this highly nonlinear light--matter interaction process. In this work, we show the strong interplay of phase matching and absorption in gas-pressure gradients, substantially affecting macroscopic HHG efficiency. Through detailed experimental analysis and supporting numerical studies, we highlight their significance, particularly at the boundaries of the interaction volume. The concluded results have implications in the massively expanding application possibilities of HHG sources requiring high photon flux, for example in the semiconductor industry, in nanoscale imaging of biological and industrial samples, or in nonlinear optics in the XUV regime.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Roadmap on Attosecond Science

Twenty-five years have passed since the first experimental demonstration of attosecond pulses, marking the advent of our ability to resolve and control electron motion in real time. What began as a technological breakthrough - generating the shortest flashes ever produced - has evolved into a powerful approach for probing and steering electronic dynamics in atoms, molecules, and solids. This roadmap, authored by leading experts in the field, surveys the recent rapid progress in the generation and characterization of attosecond pulses, emerging attosecond measurement and control techniques, and their expanding range of applications. It reviews current and future developments in attosecond light sources, including novel laser technologies, waveform synthesizers, new schemes for high-order harmonic generation, attosecond pulse generation at free-electron lasers, and structured light. Advances in attosecond measurement methodologies are also discussed, encompassing all-attosecond pump-probe spectroscopy, attosecond four-wave mixing, attosecond microscopy, spectroscopy with light transients, and attosecond interferometry. Furthermore, the roadmap addresses applications of attosecond spectroscopy to reveal electron dynamics in molecules and condensed matter systems from both theoretical and experimental perspectives, and highlights emerging directions at the interface with quantum optics and quantum entanglement. Overall, this work aims to serve as a comprehensive resource for navigating the evolving landscape of attosecond science.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

A High Intensity Attosecond Light Source in Compact Geometry at ELI ALPS User Facility

High-order harmonic generation (HHG) has become a standard technique for producing attosecond XUV pulses in the laboratory, yet the high flux necessary for nonlinear XUV photoionization remains accessible to only a few research groups. Here, we introduce the SYLOS Compact high-harmonic beamline at ELI ALPS, specifically designed to provide the flux required for non-linear optics in the XUV. We present a detailed characterization of the beam line demonstrating its capability to generate and utilize both intense attosecond pulse trains and isolated attosecond pulses. We further showcase the two-XUV-photon double ionization of neon (Ne) and argon (Ar), achieved in a user campaign. The results underscore the beamline's capability to support cutting-edge attosecond experiments and investigations of ultrafast electron dynamics on the attosecond scale.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Single attosecond XUV pulse source via light-wave controlled relativistic laser-plasma interaction: Thomson Back Scattering Scheme

Reflecting light off a mirror moving near light speed offers a powerful method for generating bright, ultrashort pulses in the extreme ultraviolet range. Several investigations show that dense relativistic electron mirrors can be created by striking a nanometre-scale foil with a high-intensity, sharp-front laser pulse, forming a single relativistic electron sheet (RES). This RES coherently reflects and upshifts a counter-propagating laser beam from the infrared to the extreme ultraviolet with efficiency exceeding incoherent scattering by over several orders of magnitude. Here we demonstrate that optimizing the drive laser waveform can reliably produce a single RES, leading to generation of isolated \emph{attosecond} pulses enhancing both intensity and temporal compression of the back reflected light in a controlled manner. Simulations reveal that tuning parameters like timing delay enables control over the amplitude, duration, and bandwidth of the resulting attosecond Thomson backscattering pulse. Together, these advances meet key experimental challenges and pave the way for compact, tunable sources of isolated attosecond pulses for probing ultrafast phenomena.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2025

Active stabilization for ultralong acquisitions in an attosecond pump-probe beamline

Attosecond time-resolution experiments using noncollinear interferometers require precise and active control of the optical delay to prevent instabilities - including both slow drifts and rapid vibrations - that can obscure the time evolution of the physical system under investigation. In this work, we present the design and results of stability measurements for a double interferometer setup for extreme ultraviolet-infrared pump-probe spectroscopy. The attosecond pump-probe setup is driven by a high-average-power, high-repetition-rate laser system and offers sub-optical-cycle (+/-81 as) stability with a fast feedback rate over extended periods (up to several days). Due to the noncollinear arrangement, the setup enables independent control of both amplitude and phase in the two arms even across significantly different spectral regions. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate attosecond beating in angle-resolved photoemission during two-photon, two-color photoionization, highlighting the broad potential of the system for kinematically and dynamically complete studies of atomic-scale light-matter interactions.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

MIR laser CEP estimation using machine learning concepts in bulk high harmonic generation

Monitoring the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) is of paramount importance for experiments involving few cycle intense laser fields. Common measurement techniques include f-2f interferometry or stereo-ATI setups. These approaches are adequate, but are challenging to implement on demand, at different locations as additional metrology tools, in intense few cycle laser-matter interaction experiments, such as those prevalent in sophisticated user beamlines. In addition there are inherent difficulties for CEP measured at non-conventional laser wavelengths (like e.g. mid infrared) and measurements above 10 kHz laser repetition rates, on single shot basis. Here we demonstrate both by simulations and by experiments a machine learning (ML) driven method for CEP estimation in the mid infrared, which is readily generalizable for any laser wavelength and possibly up to MHz repetition rates. The concept relies on the observation of the spectrum of high harmonic generation (HHG) in bulk material and the use of ML techniques to estimate the CEP of the laser. Once the ML model is trained, the method provides a way for cheap and compact real-time CEP tagging. This technique can complement the otherwise sophisticated monitoring of CEP, and is able to capture the complex correlation between the CEP and the observable HHG spectra.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Controlling high-harmonic generation from strain engineered monolayer phosphorene

Phosphorene, a well-studied 2D allotrope of phosphorus, features unique properties such as widely tunable bandgap, high carrier mobility, and remarkable intrinsic in-plane anisotropy. Utilizing these structural and electronic properties, we investigate ultrafast electron dynamics and high harmonic generation (HHG) from phosphorene subject to band structure engineering through external strain, based on ab initio time-dependent density-functional theory approach. We show that strong field processes in such systems can be optimized and controlled by biaxial tensile and compressive strain engineering, that results in electronic structure modification. While -10% strain resulted in closing of band gap, 2% strain increased the gap by 22% with respect to 0.9 eV in pristine phosphorene, consequently affecting the high harmonic yield. With reduction of gap, by applying strain from 2% to -10%, the valence band near $Γ-$point becomes more flat and discreet, resulting in large electronic density of states and enhanced electronic excitation, which reflects in their ultrafast sub-cycle dynamics under laser excitation. Moreover, due to its intrinsic in-plane anisotropy, harmonic yield with laser polarization along the armchair (AC) direction is found to be higher than that of the zigzag (ZZ) direction for all the strain cases. Nearly, an order of magnitude enhancement of harmonic intensity is achieved for -10% strain along AC direction. The current study expands the research possibilities of phosphorene into a previously unexplored domain, indicating its potential for future utilization in extreme-ultraviolet and attosecond nanophotonics, and also for efficient table-top HHG sources.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Tunable ultrafast thermionic emission from femtosecond-laser hot spot on a metal surface: role of laser polarization and angle of incidence

Ultrafast laser induced thermionic emission from metal surfaces has several applications. Here, we investigate the role of laser polarization and angle of incidence on the ultrafast thermionic emission process from laser driven gold coated glass surface. The spatio-temporal evolution of electron and lattice temperatures are obtained using an improved three-dimensional (3D) two-temperature model (TTM) which takes into account the 3D laser pulse profile focused obliquely onto the surface. The associated thermionic emission features are described through modified Richardson-Dushman equation, including dynamic space charge effects and are included self-consistently in our numerical approach. We show that temperature dependent reflectivity influences laser energy absorption. The resulting peak electron temperature on the metal surface monotonically increases with angle of incidence for P polarization, while for S polarization it shows opposite trend. We observe that thermionic emission duration shows strong dependence on angle of incidence and contrasting polarization dependent behaviour. The duration of thermionic current shows strong correlation to the intrinsic electron-lattice thermalization time, in a fluence regime well below the damage threshold of gold. The observations and insights have important consequences in designing ultrafast thermionic emitters based on a metal based architecture.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Time Resolved Investigation of High Repetition Rate Gas Jet Target For High Harmonic Generation

High repetition rate gas targets constitute an essential component in intense laser matter interaction studies. The technology becomes challenging as the repetition rate approaches kHz regime. In this regime, cantilever based gas valves are employed, which can open and close in tens of microseconds, resulting in a unique kind of gas characteristics in both spatial and temporal domain. Here we characterize piezo cantilever based kHz pulsed gas valves in the low density regime, where it provides sufficient peak gas density for High Harmonic Generation while releasing significantly less amount of gas reducing the vacuum load within the interaction chamber, suitable for high vacuum applications. In order to obtain reliable information of the gas density in the target jet space-time resolved characterization is performed. The gas jet system is validated by conducting interferometric gas density estimations and high harmonic generation measurements at the Extreme Light Infrastructure Attosecond Light Pulse Source (ELI ALPS) facility. Our results demonstrate that while employing such targets for optimal high harmonic generation, the high intensity interaction should be confined to a suitable time window, after the cantilever opening. The measured gas density evolution correlates well with the integrated high harmonic flux and state of the art 3D simulation results, establishing the importance of such metrology.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Controlled transition to different proton acceleration regimes: near-critical density plasmas driven by circularly polarized few cycle pulse

We investigate the different facets of ion acceleration by a relativistically intense circularly polarized laser pulse interacting with thin near-critical density plasma targets. Our simulations establish that plasma density gradient and laser frequency chirp can be controlled to switch the interaction from the transparent to the opaque regimes of operation. This enables one to choose between a Maxwellian like ion energy distribution with a cut-off energy, in the relativistically transparent regime, or a quasi-monoenergetic spectrum, in the opaque regime. We subsequently demonstrate that a double-layer multi-species target configuration, can be effectively utilized for optimal generation of quasi mono-energetic ion bunches of a desired species. We finally demonstrate, the feasibility of generating mono-energetic proton beams with energy peak at $\mathcal{E}\approx20\sim40$ MeV with a narrow energy spread of $Δ\mathcal{E}/\mathcal{E}\approx18-28.6\%$ confined within a divergence angle of $\sim 175$ millirad at a reasonable laser peak intensity of $I_{0}\simeq 5.4\times 10^{20}\, \mathrm{W/cm^2}$.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Spectrally tunable ultrashort monochromatized extreme ultraviolet pulses at 100 kHz

We present the experimental realization of spectrally tunable, ultrashort, quasi-monochromatic extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses generated at 100 kHz repetition rate in a user-oriented gas high harmonic generation (GHHG) beamline of the Extreme Light Infrastructure - Attosecond Light Pulse Source (ELI ALPS) facility. Versatile spectral and temporal shaping of the XUV pulses are accomplished with a double-grating, time-delay compensated monochromator accommodating the two composing stages in a novel, asymmetrical geometry. This configuration supports the achievement of high monochromatic XUV flux (2.8+/-0.9*1e10 photons/s at 39.7 eV selected with 700 meV FWHM bandwidth) combined with ultrashort pulse duration (4.0+/-0.2 fs using 12.1+/-0.6 fs driving pulses) and small spot size (sub-100 um). Focusability, spectral bandwidth, and overall photon flux of the produced radiation were investigated covering a wide range of instrumental configurations. Moreover, complete temporal (intensity and phase) characterization of the few-femtosecond monochromatic XUV pulses - a goal that is difficult to achieve by conventional reconstruction techniques - has been realized using ptychographic algorithm on experimentally recorded XUV-IR pump-probe traces. The presented results contribute to in-situ, time-resolved experiments accessing direct information on the electronic structure dynamics of novel target materials.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Liquid-cooled modular gas cell system for high-order harmonic generation using high average power laser systems

We present the design and implementation of a new, modular gas target suitable for high-order harmonic generation using high average power lasers. To ensure thermal stability in this high heat load environment, we implement an appropriate liquid cooling system. The system can be used in multiple-cell configurations allowing to control the cell length and aperture size. The cell design was optimized with heat and flow simulations for thermal characteristics, vacuum compatibility and generation medium properties. Finally, the cell system was experimentally validated by conducting high-order harmonic generation measurements using the 100 kHz high average power HR-1 laser system at the Extreme Light Infrastructure Attosecond Light Pulse Source (ELI ALPS) facility. Such a robust, versatile and stackable gas cell arrangement can easily be adapted to different experimental geometries in both table-top laboratory systems and user-oriented facilities, such as ELI ALPS.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

Detailed study of quantum path interferences in high harmonic generation driven by chirped laser pulses

We investigate the electron quantum path interference effects during high harmonic generation in atomic gas medium driven by ultrashort chirped laser pulses. To achieve that, we identify and vary the different experimentally relevant control parameters of such a driving laser pulse influencing the high harmonic spectra. Specifically, the impact of the pulse duration, peak intensity and instantaneous frequency is studied in a self-consistent manner based on Lewenstein formalism. Simulations involving macroscopic propagation effects are also considered. The study aims to reveal the microscopic background behind a variety of interference patterns capturing important information both about the fundamental laser field and the generation process itself. The results provide guidance towards experiments with chirp control as a tool to unravel, explain and utilize the rich and complex interplay between quantum path interferences including the tuning of the periodicity of the intensity dependent oscillation of the harmonic signal, and the curvature of spectrally resolved Maker fringes.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2022

High-flux 100-kHz attosecond pulse source driven by a high average power annular laser beam

High-repetition-rate attosecond pulse sources are indispensable tools of time-resolved studies of electron dynamics, such as coincidence spectroscopy and experiments with high demands on statistics or signal-to-noise ratio, especially in case of solid and big molecule samples in chemistry and biology. Although with the high-repetition-rate lasers such attosecond pulses in a pump-probe configuration are possible to achieve, until now only a few such light sources have been demonstrated. Here, by shaping the driving laser to an annular beam, a 100-kHz attosecond pulse train (APT) is reported with the highest energy so far (51 pJ/shot) on target (269 pJ at generation) among the high-repetition-rate systems (> 10 kHz) in which the attosecond pulses were temporally characterized. The on-target pulse energy is maximized by reducing the losses from the reflections and filtering of the high harmonics, and an unprecedented 19% transmission rate from the generation point to the target position is achieved. At the same time, the probe beam is also annular, and low loss of this beam is reached by using another holey mirror to combine with the APT. The advantages of using an annular beam to generate attosecond pulses with a high average power laser is demonstrated experimentally and theoretically. The effect of nonlinear propagation in the generation medium on the annular-beam generation concept is also analyzed in detail.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

All-Optical Experimental Control of High-Harmonic Photon Energy

We generate high-order harmonics in gaseous medium with tunable photon energy using time domain interferometry of double pulses in a non-collinear generation geometry. The method is based on the fact that the generated harmonics inherit certain spectral properties of the driving laser. The two temporally delayed ultrashort laser pulses, identical in all parameters, are produced by a custom-made split-and-delay unit utilizing wave front splitting without a significant energy loss. The arrangement is easy to implement in any attosecond pulse generation beamline, and is suitable for the production of an extreme ultraviolet source with simply and quickly variable central photon energy, useful for a broad range of applications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Quantum-Optical Spectrometry in Relativistic Laser-Plasma Interactions Using the High-Harmonic Generation Process: A Proposal

Quantum-optical spectrometry is a recently developed shot-to-shot photon correlation-based method, namely using a quantum spectrometer (QS), that has been used to reveal the quantum optical nature of intense laser-matter interactions and connect the research domains of quantum optics (QO) and strong laser-field physics (SLFP). The method provides the probability of absorbing photons from a driving laser field towards the generation of a strong laser-field interaction product, such as high-order harmonics. In this case, the harmonic spectrum is reflected in the photon number distribution of the infrared (IR) driving field after its interaction with the high harmonic generation medium. The method was implemented in non-relativistic interactions using high harmonics produced by the interaction of strong laser pulses with atoms and semiconductors. Very recently, it was used for the generation of non-classical light states in intense laser-atom interaction, building the basis for studies of quantum electrodynamics in strong laser-field physics and the development of a new class of non-classical light sources for applications in quantum technology. Here, after a brief introduction of the QS method, we will discuss how the QS can be applied in relativistic laser-plasma interactions and become the driving factor for initiating investigations on relativistic quantum electrodynamics.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Generation of high-order harmonics with tunable photon energy and spectral width using double pulses

This work theoretically investigates high-order harmonic generation in rare gas atoms driven by two temporally delayed ultrashort laser pulses. Apart from their temporal delay, the two pulses are identical. Using a single-atom model of the laser-matter interaction it is shown that the photon energy of the generated harmonics is controllable within the range of one eV -- a bandwidth comparable to the photon energy of the fundamental field -- by varying the time delay between the generating laser pulses. It is also demonstrated that high-order harmonics generated by double pulses have advantageous characteristics, which mimick certain properties of an extreme ultraviolet (XUV) monochromator. With the proposed method, a simpler setup at a much lower cost and comparatively higher spectral yield can be implemented in contrast to other approaches.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2019

Imaging the source of high-harmonics generated in atomic gas media

We report the application of the time gated ion microscopy technique in accessing online the position of the source of harmonics generated in atomic gas media. This is achieved by mapping the spatial extreme-ultraviolet (XUV)-intensity distribution of the harmonic source onto a spatial ion distribution, produced in a separate focal volume of the generated XUV beam through single photon ionization of atoms. It is found that the position of the harmonic source depends on the relative position of the harmonic generation gas medium and the focus of the driving infrared (IR) beam. In particular, by translating the gas medium with respect to the IR beam focus different virtual source positions are obtained online. Access to such online source positioning allows better control and provides increased possibilities in experiments where selection of electron trajectory is important. The present study gives also access to quantitative information which is connected to the divergence, the coherence properties and the photon flux of the harmonics. Finally, it constitutes a precise direct method for providing complementary experimental info to different attosecond metrology techniques.

physics.atom-ph↗