Generating intense attosecond pulses and vectorizing polarization states from laser-plasma interactions

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the generation of intense, structured attosecond pulses with controlled polarization and orbital angular momentum via relativistic laser-plasma interactions, advancing high-intensity EUV and SXR light sources.

Contribution

It introduces a method to deterministically control polarization topology and OAM in high-order harmonic generation using relativistic laser-plasma interactions, enabling tailored attosecond pulses.

Findings

Controlled polarization and OAM transfer during harmonic generation.

Production of intense isolated attosecond pulses with spiral wavefronts.

Pathway to high-intensity structured EUV and SXR light sources.

Abstract

Vector beams with spatially structured polarization and intertwined spin-orbital angular momentum (SAM-OAM) provide powerful degrees of freedom for tailoring light-matter interactions. While such structured beams are well established in the visible and infrared regimes, extending them to the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) and soft X-ray (SXR) domains at relativistic intensities remains a major challenge. Here, we investigate the generation of higher-order harmonic vector beams driven by relativistic laser-plasma interactions. Combining theoretical analysis with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we elucidate the underlying physical mechanisms governing the transfer and conversion of polarization and orbital angular momentum during harmonic generation. We demonstrate that both the polarization topology and OAM of the emitted harmonics can be deterministically controlled by the topological charges of the driving field. Owing to the intrinsic properties of vector beams, either few-cycle driving pulses or vector polarization gating applied to multi-cycle pulses enable the production of intense isolated attosecond pulses featuring spiral wavefronts and spatially tailored polarization states. These results establish a pathway toward high-intensity structured light sources in the EUV and SXR regimes and open new opportunities for ultrafast and strong-field light-matter interaction studies with engineered angular momentum.