Kapteyn, Henry C

Manipulating nonlinear optical processes with accelerating light beams

We show theoretically that accelerating light beams can be used to manipulate nonlinear optical processes through spatiotemporal quasi-phase-matching, allowing for unprecedented temporal and spectral shaping of the generated light. As a proof of principle, we demonstrate exquisite control over the high-order harmonic frequency conversion process, showing efficient enhancement of an extremely broad range of harmonics emitted during a selected quarter-cycle of the driving laser pulse.