High-order harmonic generation from ions in a capillary discharge

We demonstrate a significant extension of the high-order harmonic cutoff by using a fully-ionized capillary discharge plasma as the generation medium. The preionized plasma dramatically reduces ionization-induced defocusing and energy loss of the driving laser due to ionization. This allows for sign...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2006-05, Vol.96 (20), p.203001-203001, Article 203001
Main Authors: Gaudiosi, David M, Reagan, Brendan, Popmintchev, Tenio, Grisham, Michael, Berrill, Mark, Cohen, Oren, Walker, Barry C, Murnane, Margaret M, Kapteyn, Henry C, Rocca, Jorge J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
CAPILLARIES
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
EV RANGE 10-100
EV RANGE 100-1000
HARMONIC GENERATION
LASERS
PHOTOIONIZATION
PHOTONS
PLASMA
WAVEGUIDES
WAVELENGTHS
XENON
XENON IONS
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Summary:We demonstrate a significant extension of the high-order harmonic cutoff by using a fully-ionized capillary discharge plasma as the generation medium. The preionized plasma dramatically reduces ionization-induced defocusing and energy loss of the driving laser due to ionization. This allows for significantly higher photon energies, up to 150 eV, to be generated from xenon ions, compared with the 70 eV observed previously. We also demonstrate enhancement of the harmonic flux of nearly 2 orders of magnitude at photon energies around 90 eV when the capillary discharge is used to ionize xenon, compared with harmonic generation in a hollow waveguide. The use of a plasma as a medium for high-order harmonic generation shows great promise for extending efficient harmonic generation to much shorter wavelengths using ions.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.96.203001