Helicity of harmonic generation and attosecond polarization with bichromatic circularly polarized laser fields*

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) of helium atom driven by bichromatic counter-rotating circularly polarized laser fields. By changing the intensity ratio of the two driving laser fields, the spectral chirality of the HHG can be controlled. As the intensity ratio increases, the spectral chirality will change from positive- to negative-value around a large intensity ratio of the two driving fields when the total laser intensity keeps unchanged. However, the sign of the spectral chirality can be changed from positive to negative around a small intensity ratio of the two driving fields when the total laser intensity changes. At this time, we can effectively control the helicity of the harmonic spectrum and the polarization of the resulting attosecond pulses by adjusting the intensity ratio of the two driving laser fields. As the intensity ratio and the total intensity of the driving laser fields increase, the relative intensity of either the left-circularly or right-circularly polarized harmonic can be enhanced. The attosecond pulses can evolve from being elliptical to near linear correspondingly.