Eur. Phys. J. D 26, 79-82 (2003)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2003-00202-x

Temporal confinement of the harmonic emission through polarization gating

¹ Service des Photons, Atomes et Molécules, CEA-DSM-DRECAM, Centre d'Études de Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
² INFM, Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
³ CELIA, Université Bordeaux 1, Cours de la Libération, 33405 Talence, France

Corresponding author: ^a salieres@drecam.cea.fr

Received: 25 November 2002
Published online: 8 July 2003

Abstract

We show experimentally that a simple optical setup is able to reduce the duration of the harmonic emission generated by “long” (many optical cycles) laser pulses. By controlling the time-dependent ellipticity during the laser pulse, one can confine the harmonic emission to a narrow temporal window where the polarization is quasi-linear. The results obtained and their comparison with a simple model show a shortening of a factor 2 for harmonics located in the plateau region. Using shorter laser pulses of 15–20 fs duration should make it possible to isolate a single attosecond pulse.