The development of attosecond metrology has enabled time-resolved studies on atoms, molecules, and (nanostructured) solids. Despite a wealth of theoretical work, attosecond experiments on isolated ...nanotargets, such as nanoparticles, clusters, and droplets have been lacking. Only recently, attosecond streaking metrology could be extended to isolated silica nanospheres, enabling real-time measurements of the inelastic scattering time in dielectric materials. Here, we revisit these experiments and describe the single-shot analysis of velocity-map images, which permits to evaluate the recorded number of electrons. Modeling of the recorded electron histograms allows deriving the irradiated nanoparticle statistics. Theoretically, we analyze the influence of the nanoparticle size on the field-induced delay, which is one of the terms contributing to the measured streaking delay. The obtained new insight into attosecond streaking experiments on nanoparticles is expected to guide wider implementation of the approach on other types of nanoparticles, clusters, and droplets.
Higher order harmonic generation in a free-electron laser amplifier operating in the superradiant regime R. H. Dicke, Phys. Rev. 93, 99 (1954). has been observed. Superradiance has been induced by ...seeding a single-pass amplifier with the second harmonic of a Ti:sapphire laser, generated in a β-Barium borate crystal, at seed intensities comparable to the free-electron laser saturation intensity. Pulse energy and spectral distributions of the harmonics up to the 11th order have been measured and compared with simulations.
The development of bright eXtreme UltraViolet (XUV) and soft x-ray sources based on high-order harmonic generation is boosting advances toward understanding the behavior of matter on the attosecond ...timescale. Here, we report a novel approach for efficient XUV generation consisting of the use of microfluidic integrated systems fabricated by femtosecond laser micromachining of glass. Our microfluidic approach allows one to control and manipulate the gas density on a micrometer scale with unprecedented accuracy and micro-structural flexibility. By propagating ultrashort laser pulses inside the microfluidic devices, we demonstrate high photon fluxes and broadband harmonics spectra, up to 200 eV, from tailored gas media.
High order harmonic generation (HHG) has shown its impact on several applications in Attosecond Science and Atomic and Molecular Physics. Owing to the complexity of the experimental setup for the ...generation and characterization of harmonics, as well as to the large computational costs of numerical modelling, HHG is generally performed and modelled in collinear geometry. Recently, several experiments have been performed exploiting non-collinear geometry, such as HHG in a grating of excited molecules created by crossing beams. In such studies, harmonics were observed at propagation directions different from those of the driving pulses; moreover the scattered harmonics were angularly dispersed.In this work we report on a new regime of HHG driven by multiple beams, where the harmonics are generated by three synchronized, intense laser pulses organized in a non-planar geometry. Although the configuration we explore is well within the strong-field regime, the scattered harmonics we observe are not angularly dispersed.
We present a compact experimental setup for performing attosecond-pump-infrared-probe experiments with long-time delay stability. The robustness of the setup is demonstrated over a two-day ...acquisition time in two-photon photoionization of argon in the photon-energy range 17−33 eV. The propagation of the input infrared pulse, as driving pulse for the high-order harmonic generation process and for the generation of the sidebands of the main photoelectron peaks, through the main optical components is simulated and discussed. Our setup allows us to perform attosecond experiments with an overall stability of ± 40 as.