Optimization of attosecond pulse generation

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Oct 15;93(16):163901. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.163901. Epub 2004 Oct 13.

Abstract

The generation of attosecond pulses by superposition of high harmonics relies on their synchronization in the emission. Our experiments in the low-order, plateau, and cutoff regions of the spectrum reveal different regimes in the electron dynamics determining the synchronization quality. The shortest pulses are obtained by combining a spectral filtering of harmonics from the end of the plateau and the cutoff, and a far-field spatial filtering that selects a single electron quantum path contribution to the emission. This method applies to isolated pulses as well as pulse trains.