High-order harmonic generation triggered by elliptically polarized laser pulses

High-order harmonic generation (HHG) is a highly nonlinear phenomenon arising from the propagation of a laser pulse throughout a medium.

HHG is used to generate tabletop sources of attosecond light pulses, essential for probing ultrafast phenomena in matter at the natural scales of the electrons.

The shape of the generated light pulses can be changed by changing the intensity or the frequency of the incident light.

However, these parameters cannot be continuously changed in experiments, in contrast to the ellipticity which is moreover simple to adjust and acts as a control knob.

While polarization of the incident light is very promising for controlling the shape of the generated attosecond light pulses, up to date, HHG is limited to a narrow range of ellipticities only.

The project EPHHG aims to control continuously the shape of generated attosecond light pulses from incident elliptically polarized lights in the full range of laser ellipticities. I propose a theoretical and numerical investigation adapted for this purpose.

It includes the development of both theoretical models and sophisticated numerical methods in order to simulate and understand the self-consistent light-matter interactions occurring during light propagation.