Towards intense single-digit attosecond pulses with a 100-mJ-class mid-infrared sub-cycle laser.

A 100-mJ-class mid-infrared sub-cycle laser produces 6.7-fs pulses at 2.26 μm, enabling generation of unprecedented broadband soft x-ray supercontinua.

• Why it matters: Shorter attosecond pulses are essential for probing ultrafast matter and light-matter interactions at higher temporal resolutions, but achieving high energy and few-cycle durations simultaneously remains challenging.
• What they did: The researchers developed a carrier-envelope-phase-stable, high-energy, sub-cycle laser system delivering 50-mJ pulses with 6.7-fs duration, and compared high-order harmonic generation results to three-dimensional Schrödinger equation simulations.
• The result: This work advances toward high-energy, single-digit attosecond soft x-ray pulses, opening new possibilities for ultrafast spectroscopy and the study of ultrafast phenomena at previously inaccessible timescales.