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Title: Conservation of Torus-knot Angular Momentum in High-order Harmonic Generation

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [2];  [5];  [2]
  1. ICFO—Inst. de Ciencies Fotoniques, Barcelona (Spain)
  2. Univ. of Salamanca (Spain)
  3. ICFO—Inst. de Ciencies Fotoniques, Barcelona (Spain); Univ. Autonoma de Madrid (Spain)
  4. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  5. ICFO—Inst. de Ciencies Fotoniques, Barcelona (Spain); Passeig de Lluís Companys, Barcelona (Spain)

High-order harmonic generation stands as a unique nonlinear optical up-conversion process, mediated by a laser-driven electron recollision mechanism, which has been shown to conserve energy, linear momentum, and spin and orbital angular momentum. Here, we present theoretical simulations that demonstrate that this process also conserves a mixture of the latter, the torus-knot angular momentum Jγ, by producing high-order harmonics with driving pulses that are invariant under coordinated rotations. Here, we demonstrate that the charge Jγ of the emitted harmonics scales linearly with the harmonic order, and that this conservation law is imprinted onto the polarization distribution of the emitted spiral of attosecond pulses. We also demonstrate how the nonperturbative physics of high-order harmonic generation affect the torus-knot angular momentum of the harmonics, and we show that this configuration harnesses the spin selection rules to channel the full yield of each harmonic into a single mode of controllable orbital angular momentum.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-99ER14982; FG02–99ER14982
OSTI ID:
1610408
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1515108; OSTI ID: 1907873
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 122, Issue 20; ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 30 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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conference January 2007
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Cited By (6)

Probability of radiation of twisted photons in an inhomogeneous isotropic dispersive medium journal October 2019
Generation of extreme-ultraviolet beams with time-varying orbital angular momentum journal June 2019
Symphony on strong field approximation text January 2019
Knotting fractional-order knots with the polarization state of light journal June 2019
Symphony on strong field approximation journal October 2019
Knotting fractional-order knots with the polarization state of light text January 2018

Figures / Tables (4)