Amplitude and phase control of attosecond light pulses

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Jan 28;94(3):033001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.033001. Epub 2005 Jan 26.

Abstract

We report the generation, compression, and delivery on target of ultrashort extreme-ultraviolet light pulses using external amplitude and phase control. Broadband harmonic radiation is first generated by focusing an infrared laser with a carefully chosen intensity into a gas cell containing argon atoms. The emitted light then goes through a hard aperture and a thin aluminum filter that selects a 30-eV bandwidth around a 30-eV photon energy and synchronizes all of the components, thereby enabling the formation of a train of almost Fourier-transform-limited single-cycle 170 attosecond pulses. Our experiment demonstrates a practical method for synthesizing and controlling attosecond waveforms.