Attosecond Control and Measurement: Lightwave Electronics

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1 . 3 AT T O S E C O N D A N D H I G H - F I E L D P H Y S I C S D I V I S I O N Dispersion management for a sub-10-fs, 10 TW optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier Franz Tavella, 1,4 Yutaka Nomura, 1 Laszlo Veisz, 1 Vladimir Pervak, 2 Andrius Marcinkevi~ius, 1,3,5 and Ferenc Krausz 1,2 1 Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany 2 Department für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, am Coulombwall 1, 85748 Garching, Germany 3 Present affiliation, IMRA America Inc., 1044 Woodridge Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105, USA 4 franz.tavella@mpq.mpg.de 5 amarcink@imra.com Received March 19, 2007; revised June 6, 2007; accepted June 11, 2007; posted June 11, 2007 (Doc. ID 81025); published July 24, 2007 We report the amplification of three-cycle, 8.5 fs optical pulses in a near-infrared noncollinear optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA) up to energies of 80 mJ. Improved dispersion management in the amplifier by means of a combination of reflection grisms and a chirped-mirror stretcher allowed us to recompress the amplified pulses to within 6% of their Fourier limit. The novel ultrabroad, ultraprecise dispersion control technology presented in this work opens the way to scaling multiterawatt technology to even shorter pulses by optimizing the OPCPA bandwidth. © 2007 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 190.4970, 190.4410, 320.5520. High-peak-power few-cycle sources are of interest for a number of applications in nonlinear optics, highfield, and ultrafast science [1]. Few-cycle pulses not only offer high peak powers from compact systems (relative value) but also enable the emergence of entirely new technologies such as the generation and measurement and spectroscopic applications of isolated attosecond pulses and steering the atomic-scale motion of electrons with controlled light fields [2–7] (absolute value). Noncollinear optical parametric amplification offers amplification over spectral ranges sufficiently broad for few-cycle pulse synthesis, but dispersion control during stretching and recompression has remained a major challenge because of the large bandwidth over which the dispersion needs to be compensated with high accuracy. This is one of the reasons why many terawatt-scale optical chirpedpulse amplifiers [8,9] are designed for higher energy amplification and for pulse durations longer than those potentially allowed by the amplification bandwidth. Only recently amplification and adaptive pulse compression of more than 100-THz bandwidths to the few-cycle regime were demonstrated reaching the terawatt regime [10–12]. In this Letter we report the implementation of an ultrabroadband grism-pair stretcher capable of controlling group delay over a dynamic range of tens of picoseconds and a bandwidth exceeding 100 THz. This improvement led to what we believe to be the first sub-10-fs, 10 TW light source ever reported and holds promise for further shortening of multiterawatt light pulses by means of optical parametric amplifier (OPA) bandwidth engineering. The schematic layout of the our novel stretchercompressor system is depicted in Fig. 1. The OPA chain is described in previous work [12]. Stretching is implemented by the negative dispersion of a pair of grisms [13]. These hybrid elements combining the dispersive effects of diffraction gratings and prisms were recently demonstrated to be capable of introduc- August 1, 2007 / Vol. 32, No. 15 / OPTICS LETTERS 2227 ing near-linear dispersion with high throughput over a bandwidth of 60 nm in the near infrared [13–15]. Here we demonstrate that they can also control optical delay efficiently over a bandwidth of 300 nm in the same spectral range. Our positive-dispersion compressor is composed of glass blocks and chirped mirrors (CM2). The latter are used for final compression to prevent excessive nonlinear effects in the glass compressors. Residual higher-order dispersion of the system is compensated by another pair of chirped mirrors (CM1) and a programmable acoustooptic dispersive filter (AODF), dubbed Dazzler [16]. The grism stretcher is designed to compensate for the dispersion of (1) the glass compressor (160 mm of SF57 and 100 mm of fused silica), (2) the BBO crystals in the optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA) chain (a total of 15-mm path length), and (3) the acousto-optical filter (43 mm of TeO 2) at the central wavelengths of 850 nm of our amplifier chain. Fig. 1. Optical layout of the OPCPA experimental setup. 0146-9592/07/152227-3/$15.00 © 2007 Optical Society of America 172 Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik • Progress Report 2007/2008
that is responsible for such quantum-mechanical phenomena as electron diffraction through crystals. Likewise, the bound electron state possesses a quantum phase, which can change sign from place to place in the molecule. The quantum phases of the returning electron wave interfere with the different parts of the molecular bound state wave function, creating attosecond modulation of the electronic structure that is recorded in the shape of the HHG spectrum (Fig. 2). The physics of HHG is still under active discussion, and this coherent scattering picture has many subtleties that are still unresolved. Nonetheless, the effect of molecular shape on the HHG spectrum is genuine and dramatic. For example, two simple molecules O2 and N2, are similar enough in their gross structure, each consisting of two atoms separated by about an angstrom, and a difference of only two electrons out of more than a dozen; but their highest occupied orbitals, the ones that will field-ionize in an intense laser field, have very different symmetries. HHG spectra reveal this difference, and recent experiments have used the spectra to perform tomographic reconstructions of the wave function responsible for ionization. Conclusion Only a few years ago, the direct measurement of transient phenomena lasting less than an optical cycle seemed a supreme challenge. Now scien- REVIEW 1 . 3 . 3 S E L E C T E D R E P R I N T S tists have brought together techniques from atomic and laser physics to make these measurements possible, if not yet routine. Attoscience is a new field, with the promise to reveal some of the fastest processes of chemistry and atomic physics, or to freeze motion that will allow us to view the structure of matter under extreme conditions. The subject is still dominated by attempts to understand and improve the sources, and to interpret the data, and there are still frontiers in source development: For example, attosecond pulses at subangstrom wavelengths have not been demonstrated. There are even more challenges in the theory of attosecond molecular dynamics: One of the most difficult issues yet to be resolved in attoscience is how we should describe the structure and motion of electrons and nuclei in physical chemistry and molecular physics to accommodate processes that are so fast that cherished concepts such as potential energy surfaces or the Born Oppenheimer approximation are no longer valid. Despite these difficulties, the rapid progress in attoscience over the past few years is not abating, and we may anticipate new physical insights in the coming decade. References and Notes 1. W.-M. Yao et al., J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 33, 1 (2006); http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2007.APR. B2.1. 2. D. E. Spence, P. N. Kean, W. Sibbett, Opt. Lett. 16, 42 (1991). Attosecond Control and Measurement: Lightwave Electronics E. Goulielmakis, 1 V. S. Yakovlev, 2 A. L. Cavalieri, 1 M. Uiberacker, 2 V. Pervak, 2 A. Apolonski, 2 R. Kienberger, 1 U. Kleineberg, 2 F. Krausz 1,2 * Electrons emit light, carry electric current, and bind atoms together to form molecules. Insight into and control of their atomic-scale motion are the key to understanding the functioning of biological systems, developing efficient sources of x-ray light, and speeding up electronics. Capturing and steering this electron motion require attosecond resolution and control, respectively (1 attosecond = 10 −18 seconds). A recent revolution in technology has afforded these capabilities: Controlled light waves can steer electrons inside and around atoms, marking the birth of lightwave electronics. Isolated attosecond pulses, well reproduced and fully characterized, demonstrate the power of the new technology. Controlled few-cycle light waves and synchronized attosecond pulses constitute its key tools. We review the current state of lightwave electronics and highlight some future directions. Quantum mechanics predicts the characteristic time scale for the rapidity of microscopic dynamics as Dt ~ ħ/DW, where DW is the spacing between the relevant energy levels of the microscopic system and ħ is Planck’s constant. The milli–electron volt and multi–electron volt energy spacing of vibrational and electronic energy levels, respectively, imply that structural dynamics of molecules and solids as well as related chemical reactions and phase transitions evolve on a femtosecond time scale, whereas electronic motion on the atomic scale is to be clocked in attoseconds. Before the invention of the laser, the resolution of time-resolved spectroscopy was limited by the nanosecond duration of pulses of incoherent light. The laser and the successive technological developments for the generation and 3. M. Nisoli, S. De Silvestri, O. Svelto, Appl. Phys. Lett. 68, 2793 (1996). 4. C. P. Hauri et al., Appl. Phys. B 79, 673 (2004). 5. R. L. Fork, C. H. Brito Cruz, P. C. Becker, C. V. Shank, Opt. Lett. 12, 483 (1987). 6. E. Matsubara et al., J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 24, 985 (2007). 7. M. Hentschel et al., Nature 414, 509 (2001). 8. Ahmed Zewail received the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies of the transition states of chemical reactions using femtosecond spectroscopy. 9. S. Augst et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 2212 (1989). 10. P. B. Corkum, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 1994 (1993). 11 X. F. Li et al., Phys. Rev. A. 39, 5751 (1989). 12. J. L. Krause et al., Phys. Rev. A. 45, 4998 (1992). 13. K. J. Schafer, K. C. Kulander, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 638 (1997). 14. R. López-Martens et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 033001 (2005). 15. N. M. Naumova, J. A. Nees, G. A. Mourou, Phys. Plasmas 12, 056707 (2005). 16. A. A. Zholents, G. Penn, Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 8, 050704 (2005). 17. M. Lein, N. Hay, R. Velotta, J. P. Marangos, P. L. Knight, Phys. Rev. A. 66, 023805 (2002). 18. J. Itatani et al., Nature 432, 867 (2004). 19. T. Kanai, S. Minemoto, H. Sakai, Nature 435, 470 (2005). 20. This paper was written at the Stanford PULSE Center, with support from the NSF and from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, a national laboratory operated by Stanford University on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. We acknowledge useful discussions with M. Guehr, who also provided Fig. 2 for this article. 10.1126/science.1142135 SPECIALSECTION measurement of ultrashort laser pulses improved the resolving power of pump-probe spectroscopy from several nanoseconds to several femtoseconds (1). The birth of femtosecond technology permitted real-time observation of the breakage and formation of chemical bonds (2). We review the recent developments in the optical technology that have led to the breaking of the femtosecond barrier and provided real-time access to intra-atomic electron dynamics. Consequences include the observation of electronic motion deep inside (i.e., in inner shells of ) atoms (3) and its control in real time (4). We address the underlying physical concepts and highlight the current status as well as future prospects of attosecond technology (5). Femtosecond Technology: Control and Measurement with the Amplitude and Frequency of Light Control and measurement of dynamics are intertwined. Time-resolved measurement relies on a physical quantity varying in a controlled, reproducible fashion on the relevant time scale. 1 Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik (MPQ), Hans- Kopfermann-Straße 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany. 2 Department für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Am Coulombwall 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany. *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: krausz@lmu.de www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 317 10 AUGUST 2007 769 Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik • Progress Report 2007/2008 173 on November 12, 2007 www.sciencemag.org Downloaded from
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