Abstract
We present theoretical investigations of high-order-harmonic generation (HHG) resulting from the interaction of noble gases with localized surface plasmons. These plasmonic near-fields are produced when a metal nanoparticle is subject to a few-cycle laser pulse. The enhanced field, which largely depends on the geometrical shape of the metallic nanostructure, has a strong spatial dependency. We demonstrate that the strong nonhomogeneity of this laser field plays an important role in the HHG process and leads to a significant increase of the harmonic-cutoff energy. In order to understand and characterize this feature, we include the functional form of the laser electric field obtained from recent attosecond streaking experiments in the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. By performing classical simulations of the HHG process we show consistency between them and the quantum-mechanical predictions. These allow us to understand the origin of the extended harmonic spectra as a selection of particular trajectory sets. The use of metal nanoparticles is an alternate way of generating coherent XUV light with a laser field whose characteristics can be synthesized locally.
| Original language | English |
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| Article number | 041402 |
| Journal | Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics |
| Volume | 87 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 11 Apr 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |