Generation of ellipticity-tunable isolated attosecond pulses from diatomic molecules in intense laser fields

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) and the isolated attosecond pulse (IAP) with tunable ellipticity from the aligned molecule. It is found that the ellipticity of harmonic depends on the internuclear distance R. Further analysis presents that the nonzero ellipticity of harmonic generated at R=6a.u. is attributed to the 2pσu state of H2+. The 2pσu state with nonvanishing angular momentum originates from a resonant transition from the 1sσg state induced by the fundamental pulse. With specific intensity of the orthogonally polarized two-color (OTC) laser fields, an IAP with high ellipticity can be obtained. To further illustrate the origin of the high ellipticity, we present the electron trajectories and electron currents induced by the electron wavepackets of H2+, which shows a clear picture of the dynamic process of HHG. Moreover, the polarization of the IAP varies from left to right elliptical polarization by synthesizing the harmonic spectrum with different orders. Such an IAP may serve as a potential tool for probing and manipulating the ultrafast magnetic and chiral dynamics.