Insight into High-order Harmonic Generation from Solids: The Contributions of the Bloch Wave-packets Moving on the Group and Phase Velocities

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel wavepacket-based model for understanding high-order harmonic generation in solids, emphasizing the roles of group and phase velocities of Bloch electrons and explaining how various laser parameters influence HHG intensity.

Contribution

It presents a new coordinate-space perspective on Bloch electron dynamics, linking intra- and interband transitions to HHG mechanisms and effects of laser parameters.

Findings

Wavepacket motion at group and phase velocities explains HHG origins.

Carrier-envelope phase, chirp, and inhomogeneous fields enhance HHG intensity.

The model aids in distinguishing HHG mechanisms in different laser conditions.

Abstract

We study numerically the Bloch electron wavepacket dynamics in periodic potentials to simulate laser-solid interactions. We introduce a new perspective in the coordinate space combined with the motion of the Bloch electron wavepackets moving at group and phase velocities under the laser fields. This model interprets the origins of the two contributions (intra- and interband transitions) of the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) by investigating the local and global behavior of the wavepackets. It also elucidates the underlying physical picture of the HHG intensity enhancement by means of carrier-envelope phase (CEP), chirp and inhomogeneous fields. It provides a deep insight into the emission of high-order harmonics from solids. This model is instructive for experimental measurements and provides a new avenue to distinguish mechanisms of the HHG from solids in diffrent laser fields.