Relativistic single-cycle tunable infrared pulses generated from a tailored plasma density structure
Published in Nature Photonics, 2018
Abstract: The availability of intense, ultrashort coherent radiation sources in the infrared region of the spectrum is enabling the generation of attosecond X-ray pulses via high-harmonic generation, pump–probe experiments in the ‘molecular fingerprint’ region and opening up the area of relativistic infrared nonlinear optics of plasmas. These applications would benefit from multi-millijoule single-cycle pulses in the mid- to long-wavelength infrared region. Here, we present a new scheme capable of producing tunable relativistically intense, single-cycle infrared pulses from 5 to 14 μm with a 1.7% conversion efficiency based on a photon frequency downshifting scheme that uses a tailored plasma density structure. The carrier-envelope phase of the long-wavelength infrared pulse is locked to that of the drive laser to within a few per cent. Such a versatile tunable infrared source may meet the demands of many cutting-edge applications in strong-field physics and greatly promote their development.
Impact: This breakthrough work established a novel plasma-based method for generating relativistically intense, tunable single-cycle infrared pulses, opening new frontiers in strong-field physics and providing crucial radiation sources for attosecond science and molecular fingerprinting applications.
Recommended citation: Zan Nie, Chi-Hao Pai, Jianfei Hua, Chaojie Zhang, Yipeng Wu, Yang Wan, Fei Li, Jie Zhang, Zhi Cheng, Qianqian Su, Shuang Liu, Yue Ma, Xiaonan Ning, Yunxiao He, Wei Lu, Hsu-Hsin Chu, Jyhpyng Wang, Warren B. Mori, Chan Joshi, "Relativistic single-cycle tunable infrared pulses generated from a tailored plasma density structure," Nature Photonics 12, 489–494 (2018).
Download Paper