HHG in semiconductor crystals
High-order laser harmonic generation (HHG) in semiconductor crystals is a new source of short wavelength, ultrashort duration (femtosecond to attosecond) pulses at very high rates, enabling us to track ultrafast electronic dynamics in complex materials.
Compared with HHG in gases, solid-state sources promise more advanced control and greater versatility of this new source for applications, offered in particular by the wide variety of crystals and advances in nano-structuring.
The ATTOCOM project aims to understand and control attosecond pulse emission by high-order harmonic generation in semiconductors.
The main objectives are :
- Demonstrate the first “all-solid state” single attosecond pulse source
- Extend attosecond metrology to the near-ultraviolet spectral range
- Study experimentally how harmonic emission in semiconductors reveals attosecond high-field electronic dynamics
- Control the petahertz electronic currents arising in crystals during interaction with the laser field
Willem Boutu (Project leader)
David Gauthier
Stefan Haessler
Hamed Merdji
Richard Taïeb and Jérémie Caillat for the theory / Francis Pénent and Jérôme Palaudoux for the experiment