APT CHARACTERISATION · Characterisation and tailoring of Attosecond pulse trains for applications
FP6 — Marie Curie Actions (Human Resources and Mobility)
- Duration
- 2004-09-15 → 2005-12-14
- EU contribution
- €105,544
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- EIF
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Results in brief
Final Activity Report Summary - APT CHARACTERISATION (Characterisation and Tailoring of Attosecond Pulse Trains for Applications)
The project focussed on the generation, characterisation and potential applications of femtosecond and attosecond extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses. When intense light from a short-pulse laser interacts with atoms or ions it generates new frequencies of radiation that are multiples of the fundamental frequency. This is called harmonic generation. Harmonics can be generated up to very high orders, corresponding to photon energies higher than 500 eV. This phenomenon is of great basic research interest, as it probes the behaviour of an atom strongly perturbed by an electromagnetic field. Moreover, the harmonic radiation is an extremely promising short-pulse and coherent source of radiation in the XUV and soft X-ray range. One goal of the research project was to generate attosecond pulses, to characterise them in time and space and to explore their applications. 'Attophysics' is a new field of research where attosecond pulses can be used to probe dynamical processes in matter with an unprecedented time resolution. The duration of attosecond pulses is of the same order of magnitude as the classical orbit time for a ground-state electron in a hydrogen atom. These pulses should allow scientists to study the electronic motion in atoms or molecules in their ground state, inner-shell electron relaxation processes, ultrafast nuclear motions in molecules, time-resolved X-ray absorption in solids etc. The project was of the nature of fundamental research in both optics and atomic physics, with a high potential scientific impact. Scientific achievements that were made during this project included complete characterisation of an attosecond pulse train, tailoring the properties of the attosecond pulses, confining the number of pulses in the train using time-gating or laser pulse compression techniques and application of attosecond pulse trains for studying strong-field processes.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
It was realised shortly after the discovery of high-order harmonics, that the broad frequency range of plateau harmonics support pulses of sub-femtosecond duration. After the experimental demonstration of the presence of such pulses, a rapid progress of the field has been witnessed.The main objective of this proposal is to fully characterise these extreme ultraviolet pulses and to use the knowledge gained via the characterisation method to produce tailor-made laser pulses of attosecond (10-18 s) duration, u sing high-order harmonic generation. Many aspects of the generation, characterisation and implementation of attosecond pulses still have to be investigated, before attosecond pulses can become a routine tool that can be as widely used as present day femtosecond lasers.The specific tasks are as follows:- Complete characterisation of high-order harmonic generation and the produced attosecond pulse train.- Search for the long quantum path and its influence on the attosecond pulse train.- Tailor the properties of the pulses in the train, as well as their relative timing for applications.- Isolation of a single pulse of the train using a generating pulse with time-varying ellipticity.Each task shall be achieved via a combination of experimental (the harmonic generation setup, available at the host institute, is unique in the sense that it allows for independent manipulation of pump and probe beams, therefore it is ideal for carrying out the proposed project) and theoretical methods (modelling experimental conditions).As a result of the mobility period the applicant will have acquired most of the necessary skills to carry out an outstanding career by having been taught many scientific, managerial, social and educational skills, making contacts with important scientific groups in the field, and building up her own international scientific network.The fellowship shall also contribute to the integration of her scientific home community (Hungary)
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- LUNDS UNIVERSITET · LUNDCoordinatorSweden
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union