Sub-50 attosecond pulse generation from multicycle nonlinear chirped pulses

Abstract

We present a method of producing single attosecond pulses by high-order harmonic generation with multi-cycle nonlinear chirped driver laser pulses. The symmetry of the laser feld in several optical cycles near the pulse center is dramatically broken, and then the photons which cover a much broad spectrum burst almost only in one optical cycle. So an ultra-broad continuum spectrum appears in the high order harmonic spectrum, from which an isolated sub-50 attosecond pulse could be obtained. The results are almost independent of the length and chirp form of the driver laser pulse.