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Title: Experimental observation of attosecond control over relativistic electron bunches with two-colour fields

Journal Article · · Nature Photonics
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [5]
  1. Queen's Univ., Belfast (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  2. Helmholtz Inst., Jena (Germany)
  3. Helmholtz Inst., Jena (Germany); Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena (Germany). Inst. fur Optik und Quantenelektronik
  4. Helmholtz Inst., Jena (Germany); Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena (Germany). Inst. fur Optik und Quantenelektronik; SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  5. Queen's Univ., Belfast (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Helmholtz Inst., Jena (Germany); Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena (Germany). Inst. fur Optik und Quantenelektronik
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Energy coupling during relativistically intense laser–matter interactions is encoded in the attosecond motion of strongly driven electrons at the pre-formed plasma–vacuum boundary. Studying and controlling this motion can reveal details about the microscopic processes that govern a vast array of light–matter interaction phenomena, including those at the forefront of extreme laser–plasma science such as laser-driven ion acceleration, bright attosecond pulse generation and efficient energy coupling for the generation and study of warm dense matter. Here in this paper, we experimentally demonstrate that by precisely adjusting the relative phase of an additional laser beam operating at the second harmonic of the driving laser it is possible to control the trajectories of relativistic electron bunches formed during the interaction with a solid target at the attosecond scale. Finally, we observe significant enhancements in the resulting high-harmonic yield, suggesting potential applications for sources of ultra-bright, extreme ultraviolet attosecond radiation to be used in atomic and molecular pump–probe experiments

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1360939
Journal Information:
Nature Photonics, Vol. 11, Issue 1; ISSN 1749-4885
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 35 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (34)

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Attosecond physics
  • Kienberger, Reinhard; Krausz, Ferenc
  • ICALEO® 2007: 26th International Congress on Laser Materials Processing, Laser Microprocessing and Nanomanufacturing, International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics https://doi.org/10.2351/1.5061046
conference January 2007
Harmonic Generation from Relativistic Plasma Surfaces in Ultra-Steep Plasma Density Gradients text January 2012
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Cited By (8)

Spectral interferometry with waveform-dependent relativistic high-order harmonics from plasma surfaces journal November 2018
Characterization of laser-driven proton acceleration from water microdroplets journal November 2019
Bright attosecond γ -ray pulses from nonlinear Compton scattering with laser-illuminated compound targets journal April 2018
Toward attosecond control of electron dynamics in two-dimensional materials journal January 2020
High-quality high-order harmonic generation through preplasma truncation journal November 2019
A laser-plasma accelerator driven by two-color relativistic femtosecond laser pulses journal November 2019
Generation of Attosecond Light Pulses from Gas and Solid State Media journal March 2017
Characterization of laser-driven proton acceleration from water microdroplets text January 2019

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Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
High-harmonic generation
Laser-produced plasmas
Ultrafast lasers