Generation of energetic highly elliptical extreme ultraviolet radiation

Abstract

In this study, the generation of energetic coherent extreme ultraviolet (XUV) radiation with the potential for controlled polarization is reported. The XUV radiation results from the process of high harmonic generation (HHG) in a gas phase atomic medium, driven by an intense two-color circularly polarized counter-rotating laser field, under loose focusing geometry conditions. The energy of the XUV radiation emitted per laser pulse is found to be of the order of ~100 nJ with the spectrum spanning from 17 to 26 eV. The demonstrated energy values (along with tight XUV focusing geometries) are sufficient to induce nonlinear processes. Our results challenge current perspectives regarding ultrafast investigations of chiral phenomena in the XUV spectral region.