Optical Control of High-Harmonic Generation at the Atomic Thickness

Wang Y., Iyikanat F., Bai X., Hu X., Das S., Dai Y., ...More

Nano Letters, vol.22, no.21, pp.8455-8462, 2022 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 22 Issue: 21
  • Publication Date: 2022
  • Doi Number: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c02711
  • Journal Name: Nano Letters
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, PASCAL, Biotechnology Research Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts Core, Chimica, Compendex, EMBASE, INSPEC, MEDLINE
  • Page Numbers: pp.8455-8462
  • Keywords: All-Optical Control, Static High-Harmonic Generation, Transient High-Harmonic Generation, Interband Carrier Transition, Electronic States, Real-Time Quantitative Theory of Nonlinear Optics
  • Dokuz Eylül University Affiliated: No

Abstract

High-harmonic generation (HHG), an extreme nonlinear optical phenomenon beyond the perturbation regime, is of great significance for various potential applications, such as high-energy ultrashort pulse generation with outstanding spatiotemporal coherence. However, efficient active control of HHG is still challenging due to the weak light-matter interaction displayed by currently known materials. Here, we demonstrate optically controlled HHG in monolayer semiconductors via the engineering of interband polarization. We find that HHG can be efficiently controlled in the excitonic spectral region with modulation depths up to 95% and ultrafast response speeds of several picoseconds. Quantitative time-domain theory of the nonlinear optical susceptibilities in monolayer semiconductors further corroborates these experimental observations. Our demonstration not only offers an in-depth understanding of HHG but also provides an effective approach toward active optical devices for strong-field physics and extreme nonlinear optics.