Generation of Super Intense Isolated Attosecond Pulses from Trapped Electrons in Metal Surfaces

TL;DR

This paper presents a numerical scheme combining chirped pulses and trapped electrons in copper surfaces to generate ultrabroadband isolated attosecond pulses in the XUV and soft x-ray regions with high efficiency and bandwidth.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for high-order harmonic generation using trapped electrons in metal surfaces, achieving ultrabroadband isolated attosecond pulses with enhanced yield.

Findings

Produced 370 as pulses covering 50-250 and 350-450 eV ranges.

Enhanced harmonic yield in soft x-ray region by nearly 7 orders of magnitude.

Demonstrated potential for stable, efficient attosecond sources in solid-state devices.

Abstract

Generation of ultrabroadband isolated attosecond pulses (IAPs) is essential for time-resolved applications in chemical and material sciences, as they have the potential to access the spectral water window region of chemical elements, which yet has to be established. Here we propose a numerical scheme for highly efficient high-order harmonic generation (HHG) and hence the generation of ultrabroadband IAPs in the XUV and soft x-ray regions. The scheme combines the use of chirped pulses with trapped electrons in copper transition-metal surfaces and takes advantage of the characteristic features of an infrared (IR) single-cycle pulse to achieve high conversion efficiencies and large spectral bandwidths. In particular, we show that ultrabroad IAPs with a duration of 370 as and with a bandwidth covering the photon energy range of 50-250 and 350-450 eV can be produced. We further show that introducing an additional IR single cycle pulse permits to enhance the harmonic yield in the soft x-ray photon energy region by almost 7 order of magnitude. Our findings thus elucidate the relevance of trapped electrons in metal surfaces for developing stable and highly efficient attosecond light sources in compact solid-state devices.