Generation of Subfemtosecond Deep and Vacuum UV pulses via Two-Photon Rabi Oscillations in Alkali Atoms or Alkaline Earth Ions

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method to generate subfemtosecond deep UV pulses using two-photon Rabi oscillations in alkali atoms or alkaline earth ions, achieving shorter pulse durations and higher efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a resonant interaction technique for producing ultra-short UV pulses with significantly improved efficiency compared to existing methods.

Findings

Pulse duration is several times shorter than far from resonance.

Generation efficiency is increased by 3-4 orders of magnitude.

Effective for deep and vacuum UV pulse generation.

Abstract

A method is proposed for the formation of femto- and subfemtosecond pulses of the deep ultraviolet and vacuum ultraviolet radiation via generating the third harmonic of femtosecond laser pulses during their resonant interaction with alkali atoms or alkaline earth ions. The pulse formation occurs due to two-photon Rabi oscillations between quasi-equidistant energy levels of atoms or ions. The duration of the generated third harmonic pulse is several times shorter than far from resonance, while the generation efficiency is up to 3-4 orders of magnitude higher.