Abstract

The use of counterpropagating laser pulses to suppress high harmonic generation (HHG) is investigated experimentally for pulses polarized parallel or perpendicular to the driving laser pulse. It is shown for the first time that perpendicularly polarized pulses can suppress HHG. The intensity of the counterpropagating pulse required for harmonic suppression is found to be much larger for perpendicular polarization than for parallel polarization, in good agreement with simple models of the harmonic suppression. These results have applications to quasi-phase-matching of HHG with trains of counterpropagating pulses.

© 2007 Optical Society of America

Quasi-phase matching and characterization of high-order harmonic generation in hollow waveguides using counterpropagating light

Amy L. Lytle, Xiaoshi Zhang, Richard L. Sandberg, Oren Cohen, Henry C. Kapteyn, and Margaret M. Murnane
Opt. Express 16(9) 6544-6566 (2008)

Generation and control of ultrafast pulse trains for quasi-phase-matching high-harmonic generation

Tom Robinson, Kevin O'Keeffe, Matt Zepf, Brendan Dromey, and Simon M. Hooker
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 27(4) 763-772 (2010)

Field strength scaling in quasi-phase-matching of high-order harmonic generation by low-intensity assisting fields

Emeric Balogh and Katalin Varjú
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 33(2) 230-238 (2016)

Influence of counterpropagating light on phase matching in second-harmonic generation

Amy L. Lytle, Richard Camuccio, Rachel Myer, Allison Penfield, and Etienne Gagnon
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 33(7) 1538-1542 (2016)

Quasi-phase-matching high harmonic generation using trains of pulses produced using an array of birefringent plates

Kevin O’Keeffe, Tom Robinson, and Simon M. Hooker
Opt. Express 20(6) 6236-6247 (2012)