Relativistic, single-cycle tunable-infrared pulses generated by a tailored plasma density structure

Abstract

The availability of intense, ultrashort coherent radiation sources in the infrared region of the spectrum is enabling the generation of attosecond X-ray pulses via high harmonic generation, pump-probe experiments in the "molecular fingerprint" region and opening up the area of relativistic-infrared nonlinear optics of plasmas. These applications would benefit from multi-millijoule single-cycle pulses in the mid to long wavelength infrared (LW-IR) region. Here we present a new scheme capable of producing tunable relativistically intense, single-cycle infrared pulses from 5-14$\mu$m with a 1.7% conversion efficiency based on a photon frequency downshifting scheme that uses a tailored plasma density structure. The carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of the LW-IR pulse is locked to that of the drive laser to within a few percent. Such a versatile tunable IR source may meet the demands of many cutting-edge applications in strong-field physics and greatly promote their development.

arXiv comment6 figures

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Cited by in corpus (11)

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• Advances in laser-plasma interactions using intense vortex laser beams
• Electron beam driven generation of frequency-tunable isolated relativistic sub-cycle pulses
• Ultra-short pulse generation from mid-IR to THz range using plasma wakes and relativistic ionization fronts
• Laser wakefield driven generation of isolated CEP-tunable intense sub-cycle pulses
• Generation of synchronized high-intensity x-rays and mid-infrared pulses by Doppler-shifting of relativistically intense radiation from near-critical-density plasmas
• Characterisation of Laser Wakefield Acceleration Efficiency with Octave Spanning Near-IR Spectrum Measurements
• Space-time non-separable dynamics of ultrashort vortex pulse with power exponential spectrum
• Generation of Super Intense Isolated Attosecond Pulses from Trapped Electrons in Metal Surfaces