Intense single attosecond pulses from surface harmonics using the polarization gating technique

Harmonics generated at solid surfaces interacting with relativistically strong laser pulses are a promising route towards intense attosecond pulses. In order to obtain single attosecond pulses one can use few-cycle laser pulses with carrier-envelope phase stabilization. However, it appears feasible to use longer pulses using polarization gating—the technique known for a long time from gas harmonics. In this paper, we investigate in detail a specific approach to this technique on the basis of one-dimensional-particle-in-cell (1D PIC) simulations, applied to surface harmonics. We show that under realistic conditions polarization gating results in significant temporal confinement of the harmonics emission allowing thus the generation of intense single attosecond pulses. We study the parameters needed for gating only one attosecond pulse and show that this technique is applicable to both normal and oblique incidence geometry. 4 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. New Journal of Physics 10 (2008) 025025 1367-2630/08/025025+14$30.00 © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft