Attosecond pulses with sophisticated spatio-spectral waveforms: spatio-spectral Airy and auto-focusing beams

Opt Express. 2011 Oct 24;19(22):21730-8. doi: 10.1364/OE.19.021730.

Abstract

We propose a scheme for producing attosecond pulses with sophisticated spatio-spectral waveforms. The profile of a seed attosecond pulse is modified and its central frequency is up-converted through interaction with an infrared pump pulse. The transverse profile of the infrared beam and a spatiotemporal shift between the seed and infrared pulses are used for manipulating the spatio-spectral waveform of the generated pulse beam. We present several examples of sophisticated isolated attosecond pulse beam generation, including spatio-spectral Airy beam that exhibits prismatic self-bending effect and a beam undergoing auto-focusing to a sub-micron spot without the need of a focusing lens or nonlinearity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.