Isolated intense sub-30-as pulse generation by quantum path control in the three-color laser pulse

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the high-order harmonic generation from He+in the two-color laser pulse, which is composed of a multi-cycle 800 nm laser and 1600 nm laser. Compared with the case of the fundamental laser, the harmonic spectrum presents a two-plateau structure, and a broadband supercontinuum appears in the second plateau, of which the efficiency is approximately 2 orders of magnitude lower than that of the first plateau. Adding the 27th harmonic pulse to the two-color laser at a proper time, we can control the ionization mostly occurring at half the optical cycle, and the short quantum path can be picked out, the second plateau is heightened four orders of magnitude compared with the case of the two-color case. Furthermore, the supercontinuum spectrum is extended from the second plateau to the first one. An intense isolated pulse with a duration of 29 as is obtained by superposing the 190th285th harmonics in the continuous region.