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arXiv:1205.4767 · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Resonant enhancement of a single attosecond pulse in a gas medium by a time-delayed control field

Wei-Chun Chu, C D Lin

Published Sep 21, 2012• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

An optical coherent control scheme has been proposed and theoretically investigated where an extreme ultraviolet single attosecond pulse (SAP) propagates through dense helium gas dressed by a time-delayed femtosecond laser pulse. The laser pulse couples the 2s2p( 1 P) and 2s 2 ( 1 S) autoionizing states when the SAP excites the 2s2p state. After going through the gas, the spectral and temporal profiles of the SAP are strongly distorted. A narrowed but enhanced spike in the spectrum shows up for specific intensities and time delays of the laser, which exemplifies the control of a broadband photon wave packet by an ultrashort dressing field for the first time. We analyse the photon and electron dynamics and determine the dressing condition that maximizes this enhancement. The result demonstrates new possibilities of attosecond optical control.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/45/20/201002

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Resonant enhancement of a single attosecond pulse in a gas medium by a time-delayed control field

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An optical coherent control scheme has been proposed and theoretically investigated where an extreme ultraviolet single attosecond pulse (SAP) propagates through dense helium gas dressed by a time-delayed femtosecond laser pulse. The laser pulse couples the 2s2p( 1 P) and 2s 2 ( 1 S) autoionizing states when the SAP excites the 2s2p state. After going through the gas, the spectral and temporal profiles of the SAP are strongly distorted. A narrowed but enhanced spike in the spectrum shows up for specific intensities and time delays of the laser, which exemplifies the control of a broadband photon wave packet by an ultrashort dressing field for the first time. We analyse the photon and electron dynamics and determine the dressing condition that maximizes this enhancement. The result demonstrates new possibilities of attosecond optical control.
An optical coherent control scheme has been proposed and theoretically investigated where an extreme ultraviolet single attosecond pulse (SAP) propagates through a dense helium gas dressed by a time-delayed femtosecond laser pulse. The laser pulse couples the 2s2p([superscript]1P) and 2s[superscript]2([superscript]1S) autoionizing states when the SAP excites the 2s2p state. After going through the gas, the spectral and temporal profiles of the SAP are strongly distorted. A narrowed but enhanced spike in the spectrum shows up for specific intensities and time delays of the laser, which exemplifies the control of a broadband photon wave packet by an ultrashort dressing field for the first time. We analyze the photon and electron dynamics and determine the dressing condition that maximizes this enhancement. The result demonstrates new possibilities of attosecond optical control.
An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) single attosecond pulse passing through a laser-dressed dense gas is studied theoretically. The weak EUV pulse pumps the helium gas from the ground state to the 2s2p(1P)2s2p({}^{1}P)2s2p(1P) autoionizing state, which is coupled to the 2s2(1S)2{s}^{2}{(}^{1}S)2s2(1S) autoionizing state by a femtosecond infrared laser with the intensity in the order of 1012{}^{12}12 W/cm2{}^{2}2. The simulation shows how the transient absorption and emission of the EUV are modified by the coupling laser. A simple analytical expression for the atomic response derived for $\ensuremath{\delta}$-function pulses reveals the strong modification of the Fano lineshape in the spectra, where these features are quite universal and remain valid for realistic pulse conditions. We further account for the propagation of pulses in the medium and show that the EUV signal at the atomic resonance can be enhanced in the gaseous medium by more than 50% for specifically adjusted laser parameters, and that this enhancement persists as the EUV propagates in the gaseous medium. Our result demonstrates the high-level control of nonlinear optical effects that are achievable with attosecond pulses.
We show that by combining strong-field dressing and resonant propagation of XUV pulses, the transition of absorption lines from their natural Lorentzian profiles through Fano and complex multipeak shapes all the way back to broadened near-Lorentzian profiles can be achieved, in the limit of optically thick samples. The final stage of this spectral modification can be understood in terms of a significant temporal stretching and delay of the resonant XUV pulse as it propagates through the dense gas, which alters the ultrafast absorption that is modified by the time-synchronized few-femtosecond laser pulse. We first demonstrate this concept in numerical calculations, both using a model system and through a fully coupled solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation and the Maxwell wave equation. The applicability and generality of the underlying mechanism is then illustrated in proof-of-principle attosecond transient absorption measurements in a helium gas with a widely varying atomic density. These results provide insights into the interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with dense media and its coherent control.
We review the theoretical investigations of the autoionzing wave packet excited by an isolated attosecond pulse and dressed by a time-delayed intense laser pulse. The few-level model is described and the applications in photoemission and photoabsorption are given. For the three-level, resonantly coupled system, the main features are explained by the Rabi oscillation modulated in the dressing field. For such a system, by precisely controlling the intensity and the time delay of the dressing pulse, we show the shaping of the attosecond pulse when propagating in a gas medium. A more sophisticated multi-level system with coupling terms involving continuum states is also developed, in which the importance of the continuum-continuum coupling is evaluated with the help of an ab initio calculation. DOI: PACS numbers: 32.80.Qk, 32.80.Zb, 42.50.Gy I.
Metastable states are important actors in the ionisation of atoms and molecules. Sub-femtosecond extreme ultraviolet pulses can coherently populate several transiently bound states at once, thus starting the attosecond clocks which are required to monitor and control ultrafast electronic evolution above the ionisation threshold. Here we illustrate, from a theoretical point of view, the effects coherent superpositions of 1 P o doubly excited states in the helium atom have on channel-resolved photoelectron spectra as well as on the transient absorption spectrum of the atom in the extreme ultraviolet region, when they are created by a single-attosecond pulse in the presence of a strong few-cycle near-infrared/visible pulse which acts as a probe. Interference fringes varying rapidly with the pump-probe time delay are visible in both photoelectron and transient absorption spectra. From such fringes, the wave packet itself can conceivably be reconstructed. Conversely, all observables are modulated by the characteristic beating periods of the wave packet, so that control of partial ionisation yields, branching ratios, and light absorption or amplification can be achieved.
We investigate the evolution of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) spectral line shapes in an optically thick helium gas under near-infrared (IR) perturbation. In our experimental and theoretical work, we systematically vary the IR intensity, time-delay, gas density, and IR polarization parameters to study line-shape modifications induced by collective interactions in a regime beyond the single-atom response of a thin, dilute gas. In both experiment and theory, we find that specific features in the frequency-domain absorption profile, and their evolution with propagation distance, can be attributed to the interplay between resonant attosecond pulse propagation and IR-induced phase shifts. Our calculations show that this interplay also manifests itself in the time domain, with the IR pulse influencing the reshaping of the XUV pulse propagating in the resonant medium.