München 2004 – scientific programme

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Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 5: Ultrakurze Lichtimpulse: Attosekundenpulse

Q 5.1: Group Report

Monday, March 22, 2004, 14:00–14:30, HS 223

Direct measurement of attosecond pulse trains — •K. Witte¹, P. Tzallas¹, D. Charalambidis², N. Papadogiannis², and G. Tsakiris¹ — ¹Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, D-85748 Garching, Germany — ²Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas, Institute of Electronic Structure & Laser, PO Box 1527, GR-711 10 Heraklion (Crete), Greece and Department of Physics, University of Crete, P.O. Box 2208, GR-71003 Voutes-Heraklion (Crete), Greece

The most widely used method for the pulse duration measurement of pico- and femtosecond laser pulses is the second-order auto-correlation (AC) technique, which relies on a non-linear effect induced solely by the radiation to be characterized. Employing appropriate modifications, we have succeeded in extending this approach to a coherent superposition of harmonics thus demonstrating the feasibility of performing second-order AC measurement with sub-femtosecond XUV pulses. The experimental results bear direct evidence that a synthesis of five harmonics (7th to 15th) produced in a Xe gas jet gives rise to an XUV signal exhibiting clear attosecond structure with periodicity twice that of the driving laser field [1]. While the unique capabilities of this new approach are demonstrated here in performing the first AC measurement of an attosecond pulse train, the method itself initiates the XUV-pump - XUV-probe studies in sub-femtosecond scale dynamics. References [1] P. Tzallas et al., Nature 426, 267(2003)