Kapteyn-Murnane Group Attosecond Nonlinear Optics

Attosecond Nonlinear Optics

Science Covers: Controlling X-ray light using laser light. 

Controlling X-ray light using laser light.听By changing the color, polarization and phase of the femtosecond laser beam, the spectrum, pulse duration, polarization, phase and shape of the generated short wavelength HHG beam can be controlled鈥攐n exquisite sub-脜 and sub-attosecond (10-18听s) length and time scales.听

Ever since the invention of the visible laser over 50 years ago, scientists have been striving to create lasers that generate coherent beams at shorter wavelengths i.e. the extreme UV (EUV) and soft X-ray (SXR) regions of the spectrum. This quest has led to the construction of large facilities, such as kilometer-scale x-ray free-electron lasers, to reach the keV photon energy region. Ultimately however, to be broadly accessible for science, medicine and industry, laser-like (i.e. coherent) x-ray sources need to be much smaller and cheaper.

Fortunately, high harmonic generation (HHG)鈥攖he coherent equivalent of the Roentgen x-ray tube鈥攔epresents a unique new quantum technology for generating ultrafast coherent beams spanning the VUV, EUV and keV regions of the spectrum. In HHG, a femtosecond laser pulse is focused into a gas 鈥 where it manipulates the quantum wavefunction of an electron, to create a nanoscale dipole antenna. By confining the gas in a waveguide geometry, the HHG process can be very efficient, and useful for a broad range of applications in materials and chemical science. Moreover, by changing the color, polarization and phase of the femtosecond laser beam, the spectrum, pulse duration, polarization, phase and shape of the generated HHG beam can be controlled鈥攐n exquisite sub-脜 and sub-attosecond (10-18听s) length and time scales. This has allowed us to develop a unique light source that can be tuned from a 12-octave spanning supercontinuum to isolated spectral peaks, with full temporal and spatial coherence, and with arbitrary polarization and OAM charge.

In the future, laser-like coherent hard X-ray high harmonic beams may well become a feasible alliterative to the lightbulb-like x-ray tube that is still ubiquitous in medical imaging鈥攎ore than a century after Roentgen鈥檚 discovery.

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Related Publications

  1. D. E. Couch, D. D. Hickstein, D. G. Winters, S. J. Backus, M. M. Kirchner, J. J. Ramirez, S. R. Domingue, C. G. Durfee, M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn,听鈥淯ltrafast1 MHz ultrafast vacuum UV source via highly cascaded harmonic generation in negative-curvature hollow-core fibers,鈥听Optica听7, 832 (2020).听
  2. L. Rego, K. M. Dorney, N. J. Brooks, Q. L. Nguyen, C.-T. Liao, J. San Rom谩n, D. E. Couch, A. Liu, E. Pisanty, M. Lewenstein, L. Plaja, H. C. Kapteyn, M. M. Murnane, C. Hern谩ndez-Garc铆a,听鈥淕eneration of extreme-ultraviolet beams with time-varying orbital angular momentum,鈥听Science听364, eaaw9486 (2019).听Featured on cover.听
  3. K. M. Dorney, L. Rego, N. J. Brooks, J. San Rom谩n, C.-T. Liao, J. L. Ellis, D. Zusin, C. Gentry, Q. L. Nguyen, J. M. Shaw, A. Pic贸n, L. Plaja, H. C. Kapteyn, M. M. Murnane, C. Hern谩ndez-Garc铆a,听鈥淐ontrolling the polarization and vortex charge of attosecond high-harmonic beams via simultaneous spin-orbit momentum conservation,鈥听Nature Photonics听13, 123鈥130 (2019).听听听
  4. C. Chen, Z. Tao, C. Hern谩ndez-Garc铆a, P. Matyba, A. Carr, R. Knut, O. Kfir, D. Zusin, C. Gentry, P. Gychtol, O. Cohen, L. Plaja, A. Becker, A. Jaron-Becker, H. Kapteyn, M. Murnane,听鈥淭omographic reconstruction of circularly polarized high-harmonic fields: 3D attosecond metrology,鈥听Science Advances听2, e1501333 (2016).听
  5. T. Fan, P. Gychtol, R. Knut, C. Hern谩ndez-Garc铆a, D. D. Hickstein, D. Zusin, C. Gentry, F. J. Dollar, C. A. Mancuso, C. W. Hogle, O. Kfir, D. Legut, K. Carva, J. L. Ellis, K. M. Dorney, C. Chen, O. G. Shpyrko, E. E. Fullerton, O. Cohen, P. M. Oppeneer, D. B. Milo拧evi膰, A. Becker, A.听Jaro艅--Becker, T. Popmintchev,听听M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn,听鈥淏right circularly polarized soft X-ray high harmonics for X-ray magnetic circular dichroism,鈥听PNAS听112听(46) 14206鈥14211 (2015).听. 听
  6. D. Popmintchev, C. Hern谩ndez-Garc铆a, F. Dollar, C. Mancuso, J. P茅rez-Hern谩ndez, M. C. Chen, A. Hankla, X. Gao, B. Shim, A. Gaeta, M. Tarazkar, D. Romanov, R. Levis, J. Gaffney, M. Foord, S. Libby, A.听Jaro艅-Becker, A. Becker, L. Plaja, M. Murnane, H. Kapteyn, T. Popmintchev,听鈥淯ltraviolet surprise: Efficient soft X-ray high harmonic generation in multiply-ionized plasmas,鈥听Science听350, 1225 (2015).听听
  7. O. Kfir, P. Grychtol, E. Turgut, R. Knut D. Zusin, D. Popmintchev, T. Popmintchev, H. Nembach, J. M. Shaw, A. Fleicher, H. Kapteyn, M. Murnane, O. Cohen,听鈥淕eneration of bright phase-matched circularly-polarized extreme ultraviolet high harmonics,鈥听Nature Photonics听9, 99鈥105 (2015). DOI: 听10.1038/NPHOTON.2014.293听
  8. M.-C. Chen, C. Mancuso, C. Hern谩ndez-Garc铆a, F. Dollar, B. Galloway, D. Popmintchev, P.-C. Huang,听 B. Walker, L. Plaja, A. A.听Jaro艅-Becker, A. Becker, M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn, T. Popmintchev,听鈥淕eneration of bright isolated attosecond soft X-ray pulses driven by multicycle midinfrared lasers,鈥听Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences听111听(23)听E2361鈥揈2367 (2014);听听
  9. C. Hern谩ndez-Garc铆a, J.A. P茅rez-Hern谩ndez, T. Popmintchev, M. Murnane, H. Kapteyn, A.听Jaro艅-Becker, A.Becker, and L. Plaja,听鈥淶eptosecond high harmonic keV X-ray waveforms driven by midinfrared laser pulses,鈥听Physical Review Letters听111,听033002 (2013).听
  10. T. Popmintchev, M.-C. Chen, D. Popmintchev, P. Arpin, S. Brown, S. Ali拧auskas, G. Andriukaitis, T. Bal膷iunas, O. D.听M眉cke,听A. Pugzlys, A. Baltu拧ka, B. Shim, S. E. Schrauth, A. Gaeta, C. Hern谩ndez-Garc铆a, L. Plaja, A Becker, A.听Jaro艅-Becker, M. M. Murnane, H.C. Kapteyn,听鈥淏right coherent ultrahigh harmonics in the keV X-ray regime from mid-infrared femtosecond lasers,鈥听Science听336, 1287鈥1291 (2012).听
  11. M.-C. Chen, P. Arpin, T. Popmintchev, M. Gerrity, B. Zhang, M. Seaberg, M. M. Murnane and H. C. Kapteyn,听鈥淏right, coherent, ultrafast soft X-ray harmonics spanning the water window from a tabletop source,鈥听Physical Review Letters 105, 173901 (2010).听
  12. T. Popmintchev, M.-C. Chen, P. Arpin, M. M. Murnane and H. C. Kapteyn,听鈥淭he attosecond nonlinear optics of bright coherent X-ray generation,鈥听Nature Photonics听4, 822 (2010).听 听
  13. I. Thomann, A. Bahabad, R. Trebino, X. Liu M. M. Murnane and H. C. Kapteyn,听鈥淐haracterizing isolated attosecond pulses from hollow-core waveguides using multi-cycle driving pulses,鈥听Optics Express听17, 4611 (2009).听听
  14. T. Popmintchev, M.-C. Chen, A. Bahabad, M. Gerrity, P. Sidorenko, O. Cohen, I. P. Christov, M. M. Murnane, and H. C. Kapteyn,听鈥淧hase matching of high harmonic generation in the soft and hard X-ray regions of the spectrum,鈥听Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences听106听(26), 10516 (2009).听听听
  15. T. Popmintchev, M.-C. Chen, O. Cohen, M.听 E. Grisham, J. J. Rocca, M.M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn,听鈥淓xtended phase matching of high harmonics driven by mid-infrared light,鈥听Optics Letters听33, 2128 (2008).听
  16. H. C. Kapteyn, O. Cohen, I. Christov, and M. M. Murnane,听鈥淗arnessing attosecond science in the quest for coherent X-rays,鈥听Science听317, 775 (2007).听听
  17. H. C. Kapteyn, M. M. Murnane and I. P. Christov,听鈥淓xtreme nonlinear optics: Coherent X rays from lasers,鈥听invited article,听Physics Today,听58(3), 39 (2005).听
  18. R. Bartels, A. Paul, H. Green, H. C. Kapteyn, M. M. Murnane, S. Backus, I. P. Christov, Y. Liu, D. Attwood, C. Jacobsen,听鈥淕eneration of spatially coherent light at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths,鈥听Science听297, 376 (2002).听听听
  19. A. Rundquist, C. Durfee, Z. Chang, C. Herne, H. Kapteyn and M. Murnane,听鈥淧hase-matched generation of coherent soft X-rays,鈥听Science听280, 1412 (1998).听