Generation of Higher-Order Harmonics By Addition of a High Frequency XUV Radiation to the IR One

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that adding a high-frequency XUV radiation to an IR laser field generates new higher-order harmonics in atomic emission spectra, extending the harmonic cut-off without increasing IR intensity, through an analytical and numerical study.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism explaining the generation of XUV harmonics via ac-Stark oscillations, extending high harmonic generation spectra without higher IR intensities.

Findings

XUV harmonics appear at new frequencies due to XUV-induced ac-Stark oscillations.

The mechanism extends the harmonic cut-off without increasing IR intensity.

Numerical simulations confirm the theoretical predictions.

Abstract

The irradiation of atoms by a strong IR laser field of frequency $\omega$ results in the emission of odd-harmonics of $\omega$ ("IR harmonics") up to some maximal cut-off frequency. The addition of an XUV field of frequency $\tilde{q}\omega$ larger than the IR cut-off frequency to the IR driver field leads to the appearance of new higher-order harmonics ("XUV harmonics") $\tilde{q} \pm 2K, 2\tilde{q} \pm (2K-1), 3\tilde{q} \pm 2K,...$ ($K$ integer) which were absent in the spectra in the presence of the IR field alone. The mechanism responsible for the appearance of the XUV harmonics is analyzed analytically using a generalization of the semiclassical re-collision (three-step) model of high harmonic generation. It is shown that the emitted HHG radiation field can be written as a serie of terms, with the HHG field obtained from the three-step model in its most familiar context [P. B. Corkum, \textit{Phys. Rev. Lett.} {\bf 71}, 1994 (1993)] resulting from the zeroth-order term. The origin of the higher-order terms is shown to be the ac-Stark oscillations of the remaining ground electronic state which are induced by the XUV field. These terms are responsible for the appearance of the new XUV harmonics in the HGS. The XUV harmonics are formed by the same electron trajectories which form the IR harmonics and have the same emission times, but a much lower intensity than the IR harmonics, due to the small quiver amplitude of the ac-Stark oscillation. Nevertheless, this mechanism allows the extension of the cut-off in the HGS without the necessity of increasing the IR field intensity, as is verified by numerical time-dependent Schr\"{o}dinger equation simulation of a Xe atom shined by a combination of IR and XUV field.