Optimization of extreme ultraviolet vortex beam based on high harmonic generation

In high harmonic generation(HHG),Laguerre–Gaussian(LG) beams are used to generate extreme ultraviolet(XUV)vortices with well-defined orbital angular momentum(OAM),which have potential applications in fields such as microscopy and spectroscopy.An experimental study on the HHG driven by vortex and Gaussian beams is conducted in this work.It is found that the intensity of vortex harmonics is positively correlated with the laser energy and gas pressure.The structure and intensity distribution of the vortex harmonics exhibit significant dependence on the relative position between the gas jet and the laser focus.The ring-like structures observed in the vortex harmonics,and the interference of quantum paths provide an explanation for the distinct structural characteristics.Moreover,by adjusting the relative position between the jet and laser focus,it is possible to discern the contributions from different quantum paths.The optimization of the HH vortex field is applicable to the XUV,which opens up a new way for exploiting the potential in optical spin or manipulating electrons by using the photon with tunable orbital angular momentum.

Elliptically polarized high-order harmonic generation of Ar atom in an intense laser field

High-order harmonic generation(HHG) of Ar atom in an elliptically polarized intense laser field is experimentally investigated in this work.Interestingly,the anomalous ellipticity dependence on the laser ellipticity(ε) in the lower-order harmonics is observed,specifically in the 13rd-order,which displays a maximal harmonic intensity at ε ≈ 0.1,rather than at ε = 0 as expected.This contradicts the general trend of harmonic yield,which typically decreases with the increase of laser ellipticity.In this study,we attribute this phenomenon to the disruption of the symmetry of the wave function by the Coulomb effect,leading to the generation of a harmonic with high ellipticity.This finding provides valuable insights into the behavior of elliptically polarized harmonics and opens up a potential way for exploring new applications in ultrafast spectroscopy and light–matter interactions.

Resolving multi-orbital effects on high harmonic generation from aligned N2 molecules in linearly and elliptically polarized intense laser fields

We perform an experimental study of the multi-orbital effect on the high-order harmonic generation(HHG) from aligned N_2 molecules in both linearly and elliptically polarized intense laser fields.Measured by a home-built extreme ultraviolet(XUV) flat grating spectrometer with the pump-probe method, the angular distributions of different orders of HHG are obtained, which show distinctive behaviors for harmonics in the plateau and the cut-off regions.The ellipticity dependence of HHG is investigated by aligning the molecular axis parallel or perpendicular to the laser polarization.Our results indicate that both the highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO) as well as the lower one(HOMO-1) contribute to the HHG of N2 molecules, in either linearly or elliptically polarized intense laser field.The study paves the way for understanding the ultrafast electron dynamics of molecules exposed to an intense laser field.

Quantum interference of multi-orbital effects in high-harmonic spectra from aligned carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide

We investigate experimentally multi-orbital effects in high-order harmonic generation(HHG) from aligned CO2 and N2O molecules by intense femtosecond laser fields with linear and elliptical polarizations.For either of the aligned molecules, a minimum in the harmonic spectrum is observed, the position of which shifts to lower-order harmonics when decreasing the intensity or increasing the ellipticity of the driving laser.This indicates that the minimum originates from the dynamic interference of different channels, of which the tunneling ionization and recombination are contributed via different molecular orbitals.The results show that both the highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO) and low-lying HOMO-2 in CO2(or HOMO-1 in N2O) contribute to the molecular HHG in both linearly and elliptically polarized strong laser fields.Our study would pave a way for understanding multi-electron dynamics from polyatomic molecules irradiated by strong laser fields.

Minimum structure of high-harmonic spectra from aligned O_(2) and N_(2) molecules

We experimentally investigated the high-order harmonic generation(HHG)from aligned O_(2) and N_(2) molecules in a linearly polarized laser field,and presented the dependence of the harmonic spectrum on the driving laser intensity and molecular alignment angle.The minimum position of HHG of O_(2) varies with changing the laser intensity,which is caused by multi-orbital interference.However,the location of the observed minimum structure in N_(2) harmonic spectrum remained unchanged upon changing the laser intensity.The mechanism of the spectral minimum for N_(2) case is regarded as a Cooperlike minimum in HHG associated with the molecular electronic structure.This work indicates that harmonic spectroscopy can effectively uncover information about molecular structure and electron dynamics.

Enhanced ionization of vibrational hot carbon disulfide molecules in strong femtosecond laser fields

By using a heated molecular beam in combination with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, we experimentally study the ionization of vibrational-hot carbon disulfide（CS2） molecules irradiated by a linearly polarized 800-nm 50-fs strong laser field. The ion yields are measured in a laser intensity range of 7.0 × 10^（12） W/cm^2–1.5 × 10^（14） W/cm^2 at different molecular temperatures of up to 1400 K. Enhanced ionization yield is observed for vibrationally excited CS2 molecules.The results show that the enhancement decreases as the laser intensity increases, and exhibits non-monotonical dependence on the molecular temperature. According to the calculated potential energy curves of the neutral and ionic electronic states of CS2, as well as the theoretical models of molecular strong-field ionization available in the literature, we discuss the mechanism of the enhanced ionization of vibrational-hot molecules. It is indicated that the enhanced ionization could be attributed to both the reduced ionization potential with vibrational excitation and the Frank–Condon factors between the neutral and ionic electronic states. Our study paves the way to understanding the effect of nuclear motion on the strongfield ionization of molecules, which would give a further insight into theoretical and experimental investigations on the interaction of polyatomic molecules with strong laser fields.