Multiple ionization of argon via multi-XUV-photon absorption induced by 20-GW high-order harmonic laser pulses

Nayak, Arjun; Orfanos, Ioannis; Makos, Ioannis; Dumergue, Mathieu; Kühn, Sergei; Skantzakis, E.; Bódi, B.; Varjú, Katalin; Kalpouzos, C.; Banks, H. I. B.; Emmanouilidou, A.; Charalambidis, D.; Tzallas, P.

doi:10.1103/physreva.98.023426

Cited by 66 publications

(67 citation statements)

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“…Our findings demonstrate that we achieve a higher degree of ionization, although our XUV pulse energy is more than two orders of magnitude lower than the pulse energy reported in Ref. [12]. Our results therefore open a path for the investigation of highly nonlinear processes in the XUV range using HHG sources that are driven by lasers with moderately high pulse energies, which makes it straightforward to perform these experiments using lasers at kHz repetition rates in the future.…”

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confidence: 51%

Highly non-linear ionization of atoms induced by intense high-harmonic pulses

et al. 2020

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Intense extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulses enable the investigation of XUV-induced nonlinear processes and are a prerequisite for the development of attosecond pump -attosecond probe experiments. While highly nonlinear processes in the XUV range have been studied at free-electron lasers (FELs), high-harmonic generation (HHG) has allowed the investigation of low-order nonlinear processes. Here we suggest a concept to optimize the HHG intensity, which surprisingly requires a scaling of the experimental parameters that differs substantially from optimizing the HHG pulse energy. As a result, we are able to study highly nonlinear processes in the XUV range using a driving laser with a modest (≈ 10 mJ) pulse energy. We demonstrate our approach by ionizing Ar atoms up to Ar 5+ , requiring the absorption of at least 10 XUV photons.Three key features of intense XUV pulses from FEL and HHG sources have opened up new possibilities for a range of fields from life science to material science and fundamental physics: (i) Intense XUV pulses provide the possibility to perform pump-probe experiments, in which a first XUV pump pulse initiates dynamics in an atom or a molecule, and these dynamics are probed by a second, time-delayed XUV probe pulse. This capability has been extensively used with femtosecond time resolution at FELs (see e.g. Ref.[1]) and has been implemented with attosecond time resolution using HHG sources [2, 3]. (ii) Intense, coherent XUV pulses have enabled singleshot coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) of isolated nanotargets with a resolution in the tens of nanometers range. While these experiments are predominantly performed at FELs [4], CDI on He nanodroplets using an intense HHG source was recently reported [5]. (iii) High XUV intensities enable the study of nonlinear optics in this spectral range. Examples include multiple ionization of atoms [6] and XUV-driven four-wave mixing schemes [7].Advantages of HHG sources compared to FELs include their smaller size and lower costs resulting in easier access to these sources. Another important point is that two-color XUV-optical pump-probe experiments, which are one of the preferred applications of ultrashort XUV pulses, are challenging at FELs due to timing jitter between the optical and XUV beams [8]. Such experiments are routinely performed using HHG sources, with a time resolution extending into the attosecond domain, given the fact that attosecond pulses based on HHG have been generated for more than 10 years [9].The most common scheme used to generate intense HHG pulses requires powerful near-infrared (NIR) pulses that are loosely focused into a gas medium to increase the generation volume [3, 10-13]. It has been shown that the HHG pulse energy increases with increasing NIR focal length [14]. In contrast, we demonstrate in this paper that for a given laboratory size the XUV intensity on target can be optimized by using an NIR focusing element with a relatively short focal length. This enables the 5 10 15 d in m 5 10 15 dNIR in m 1 2 3 4 XUV beam waist radius ( ...

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Highly non-linear ionization of atoms induced by intense high-harmonic pulses

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“…The high XUV-photon flux beam-line mentioned in the previous section has been recently developed and tested in the Attosecond Science & Technology laboratory of FORTH-IESL 59 . In this section, a detailed description of the beam line and its characterization is presented.…”

Section: The High Xuv Photon Flux Sourcementioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the same time it has been recently shown that multi-cycle high peak power laser beams, focused in the generation medium using long focal lengths of several meters, in combination with quasi-phase matching 58 arrangements, achieved through a chain of small length gas media i.e. pulsed gas jets, can reach emission of 20-GW XUV harmonic power at the source in the spectral region of 15-30 eV 59 . In the work of Nayak et al apart from the measurement of the harmonic source power the high focused XUV intensities achieved were evidenced through the observation of multi-XUV-photon multiple ionization of argon atoms.…”

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confidence: 99%

Α 10-gigawatt attosecond source for non-linear XUV optics and XUV-pump-XUV-probe studies

Makos

Orfanos

Nayak

et al. 2020

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The quantum mechanical motion of electrons and nuclei in systems spatially confined to the molecular dimensions occurs on the sub-femtosecond to the femtosecond timescales respectively. Consequently, the study of ultrafast electronic and, in specific cases, nuclear dynamics requires the availability of light pulses with attosecond (asec) duration and of sufficient intensity to induce two-photon processes, essential for probing the intrinsic system dynamics. The majority of atoms, molecules and solids absorb in the extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) spectral region, in which the synthesis of the required attosecond pulses is feasible. Therefore, the XUV spectral region optimally serves the study of such ultrafast phenomena. Here, we present a detailed review of the first 10-GW class XUV attosecond source based on laser driven high harmonic generation in rare gases. The pulse energy of this source largely exceeds other laser driven attosecond sources and is comparable to the pulse energy of femtosecond Free-Electron-Laser (FEL) XUV sources. The measured pulse duration in the attosecond pulse train is 650 ± 80 asec. The uniqueness of the combined high intensity and short pulse duration of the source is evidenced in non-linear XUV-optics experiments. It further advances the implementation of XUV-pump-XUVprobe experiments and enables the investigation of strong field effects in the XUV spectral region.

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“…The present study allows the precise direct measurement of the XUV beam divergence generated in gas phase media. In addition, it can provide quantitative information during the coherent synthesis of sequentially positioned high harmonic sources when different phase matching and quasi-phase matching approaches are employed [18]. These approaches are directly connected to the improvement of the coherence properties and the photon flux of the attosecond pulses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaging the source of high-harmonics generated in atomic gas media

et al. 2019

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We report the application of the time gated ion microscopy technique in accessing online the position of the source of harmonics generated in atomic gas media. This is achieved by mapping the spatial extreme-ultraviolet (XUV)-intensity distribution of the harmonic source onto a spatial ion distribution, produced in a separate focal volume of the generated XUV beam through single photon ionization of atoms. It is found that the position of the harmonic source depends on the relative position of the harmonic generation gas medium and the focus of the driving infrared (IR) beam. In particular, by translating the gas medium with respect to the IR beam focus different "virtual" source positions are obtained online. Access to such online source positioning allows better control and provides increased possibilities in experiments where selection of electron trajectory is important. The present study gives also access to quantitative information which is connected to the divergence, the coherence properties and the photon flux of the harmonics. Finally, it constitutes a precise direct method for providing complementary experimental info to different attosecond metrology techniques.

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Multiple ionization of argon via multi-XUV-photon absorption induced by 20-GW high-order harmonic laser pulses

Cited by 66 publications

References 45 publications

Highly non-linear ionization of atoms induced by intense high-harmonic pulses

Highly non-linear ionization of atoms induced by intense high-harmonic pulses

Α 10-gigawatt attosecond source for non-linear XUV optics and XUV-pump-XUV-probe studies

Imaging the source of high-harmonics generated in atomic gas media

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