Direct Frequency Comb Spectroscopy in the Extreme Ultraviolet

Abstract

Development of the optical frequency comb has revolutionised metrology and precision spectroscopy due to its ability to provide a precise and direct link between microwave and optical frequencies. A novel application of frequency comb technology that leverages both the ultrashort duration of each laser pulse and the exquisite phase coherence of a train of pulses is the generation of frequency combs in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) via high harmonic generation (HHG) in a femtosecond enhancement cavity. Until now, this method has lacked sufficient average power for applications, which has also hampered efforts to observe phase coherence of the high-repetition rate pulse train produced in the extremely nonlinear HHG process. Hence, the existence of a frequency comb in the XUV has not been confirmed. We have overcome both challenges. Here, we present generation of >200 μW per harmonic reaching 50 nm, and the observation of single-photon spectroscopy signals for both an argon transition at 82 nm and a neon transition at 63 nm. The absolute frequency of the argon transition has been determined via direct frequency comb spectroscopy. The resolved 10-MHz linewidth of the transition, limited by the transverse temperature of the argon atoms, is unprecedented in this spectral region and places a stringent upper limit on the linewidth of individual comb teeth. Due to the lack of cw lasers, these frequency combs are currently the only promising avenue towards extending ultrahigh precision spectroscopy to below the 100-nm spectral region with a wide range of applications that include spectroscopy of electronic transitions in molecules, experimental tests of bound state and many body quantum electrodynamics in He+ and He, development of next-generation "nuclear" clocks, and searches for spatial and temporal variation of fundamental constants using the enhanced sensitivity of highly charged ions.

References in corpus (9)

• Further evidence for a variable fine-structure constant from Keck/HIRES QSO absorption spectra
• VUV frequency combs from below-threshold harmonics
• Enhanced laboratory sensitivity to variation of the fine-structure constant using highly-charged ions
• Extreme ultraviolet frequency comb metrology
• Wigner Crystals of 229Th for Optical Excitation of the Nuclear Isomer
• Hole transitions in multiply-charged ions for precision laser spectroscopy and searching for alpha-variation
• Efficient output coupling of intracavity high harmonic generation
• Extreme Nonlinear Optics in a Femtosecond Enhancement Cavity
• Prospects for precision measurements of atomic helium using direct frequency comb spectroscopy

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