Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Influence of the laser pulse duration in high-order harmonic generation

Westerberg, Saga LU ; Redon, Melvin LU ; Raab, Ann-Kathrin LU ; Beaufort, Gaspard LU ; Arias Velasco, Marta ; Guo, Chen LU ; Sytcevich, Ivan LU ; Weissenbilder, Robin LU ; O’Dwyer, David P. and Smorenburg, Peter , et al. (2025)
Abstract
High-order harmonic generation (HHG) in gases is inherently inefficient, prompting ongoing efforts to enhance the output of coherent table-top XUV sources. In this study, we investigate the influence of the laser pulse duration on HHG using a compact post-compression method featuring a bulk multi-pass cell. This setup enables tunable Fourier-limited pulse durations as short as 42 fs. We examine the HHG yield as a function of the laser intensity for pulse durations ranging from 42 fs to 180 fs while maintaining identical focusing conditions and generating medium. Our findings reveal that, for a given intensity, there exists an optimum pulse duration -- not necessarily the shortest -- that maximizes conversion efficiency. This optimum pulse... (More)
High-order harmonic generation (HHG) in gases is inherently inefficient, prompting ongoing efforts to enhance the output of coherent table-top XUV sources. In this study, we investigate the influence of the laser pulse duration on HHG using a compact post-compression method featuring a bulk multi-pass cell. This setup enables tunable Fourier-limited pulse durations as short as 42 fs. We examine the HHG yield as a function of the laser intensity for pulse durations ranging from 42 fs to 180 fs while maintaining identical focusing conditions and generating medium. Our findings reveal that, for a given intensity, there exists an optimum pulse duration -- not necessarily the shortest -- that maximizes conversion efficiency. This optimum pulse duration increases as the intensity decreases. The experimental results are corroborated by numerical simulations, which show the dependence of HHG yield on the duration and peak intensity of the driving laser and underscore the importance of the interplay between light-matter interaction and phase-matching in the nonlinear medium. Our conclusion allows us to understand why HHG could be demonstrated in 1988 with pulses as long as 40 ps pulses and intensities of only a few 1013 W/cm2. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
publisher
arXiv.org
DOI
10.48550/arXiv.2502.20058
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b9810a18-011d-456b-a3b6-bc68c4a1014d
date added to LUP
2025-03-16 10:29:01
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:40:52
@misc{b9810a18-011d-456b-a3b6-bc68c4a1014d,
  abstract     = {{High-order harmonic generation (HHG) in gases is inherently inefficient, prompting ongoing efforts to enhance the output of coherent table-top XUV sources. In this study, we investigate the influence of the laser pulse duration on HHG using a compact post-compression method featuring a bulk multi-pass cell. This setup enables tunable Fourier-limited pulse durations as short as 42 fs. We examine the HHG yield as a function of the laser intensity for pulse durations ranging from 42 fs to 180 fs while maintaining identical focusing conditions and generating medium. Our findings reveal that, for a given intensity, there exists an optimum pulse duration -- not necessarily the shortest -- that maximizes conversion efficiency. This optimum pulse duration increases as the intensity decreases. The experimental results are corroborated by numerical simulations, which show the dependence of HHG yield on the duration and peak intensity of the driving laser and underscore the importance of the interplay between light-matter interaction and phase-matching in the nonlinear medium. Our conclusion allows us to understand why HHG could be demonstrated in 1988 with pulses as long as 40 ps pulses and intensities of only a few 10<sup>13</sup> W/cm<sup>2</sup>.}},
  author       = {{Westerberg, Saga and Redon, Melvin and Raab, Ann-Kathrin and Beaufort, Gaspard and Arias Velasco, Marta and Guo, Chen and Sytcevich, Ivan and Weissenbilder, Robin and O’Dwyer, David P. and Smorenburg, Peter and Arnold, Cord and Lhuillier, A and Viotti, Anne-Lise}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Preprint}},
  publisher    = {{arXiv.org}},
  title        = {{Influence of the laser pulse duration in high-order harmonic generation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2502.20058}},
  doi          = {{10.48550/arXiv.2502.20058}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}