High-Order Harmonic Generation in Au Nanoparticle-Contained Plasmas.

Mottamchetty Venkatesh,Vyacheslav V Kim,Chunlei Guo,Andrei V Kabashin,Ganjaboy S Boltaev,Andrey A Samokhvalov,Jingguang Liang,Sergey M Klimentov,Dmitry S Ivanov,Rashid A Ganeev,Martin E Garcia

doi:10.3390/nano10020234

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (NPs) have a wide range of applications in various fields. Here, we present high-order nonlinear optical studies of the plasmas produced from ablation of Au bulk targets and Au NP films deposited on paper and glass substrates. Experimentally, we analyze high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from gold NPs-containing plasmas. The HHG is produced by 35-fs pulses at 800 and 400 nm, while the plasmas are produced by femtosecond (35 fs, 800 nm), picosecond (200 ps, 800 nm), and nanosecond (5 ns, 1064 nm) pulses, respectively. High-order harmonics produced from ablated Au NPs on paper were 40 times stronger than the HHG from that ablated from the Au bulk targets. Through molecular dynamic simulations, we investigate the formation of gold NPs during laser ablation of a metal surface under different conditions.

Highlights

Rare gases and laser-produced plasmas (LPP) from solid targets have been used as the nonlinear media for high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in extreme ultraviolet (XUV) range [1,2]
The 5- and 40-fold enhancement of harmonic yield was obtained from ablated Au NPs on paper as compared with ablated Au NPs on glass and Au bulk target
The harmonic cutoffs obtained from ablated Au NPs on paper, Au NPs on glass and Au bulk target were 29th, 21st and 21st orders, respectively, in the case of nanosecond heating pulses

Summary

Introduction

Rare gases and laser-produced plasmas (LPP) from solid targets have been used as the nonlinear media for high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in extreme ultraviolet (XUV) range [1,2]. The HHG efficiency is limited by the harmonic absorption in the generating media and the phase mismatch between the driving field and the harmonics. The laser plasma plumes are the suitable media for generation of low- and high-order harmonics. Earlier studies have shown that harmonics emitted from LPPs are more intense with regard to gaseous media [17]. Nanostructured and ion-implanted semiconductor targets paved a path to produce strong high-order harmonics as compared to un-patterned samples [18,19]

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion