Generation of subcycle isolated attosecond pulses by pumping ionizing gating

Abstract

We present an interesting approach named as pumping ionizing gating (PIG) for the generation of isolated attosecond pulses (IAPs). In this regime, a short laser is used to ionize a preexisting gas grating, creating a fast-extending plasma grating (FEPG) having an ionization front propagating with the velocity of light. A low-intensity long counterpropagating pump pulse is then reflected by a very narrow region of the ionization front, only where the Bragg conditions for resonant reflection is satisfied. Consequently, the pump reflection is confined within a subcycle region called PIG, and forms a wide-band coherent IAP in combination with the frequency up-conversion effect due to the plasma gradient. This approach results in a new scheme to generate IAPs from long picosecond pump pulses. Three-dimensional (3D) simulations show that a 1.6 ps, 1 µm pump pulse can be used to generate a 330 as laser pulse with a peak intensity approximately 33 times that of the pump and a conversion efficiency of around 0.1%. These results highlight the potential of the PIG method for generating IAPs with high conversion efficiency and peak intensity.