Optimal Spatial Separation of High-Order Harmonics from Infrared Driving Lasers with an Annular Beam in the Overdriven Regime

Abstract

We study high-order harmonic generation (HHG) with an annularly shaped high-power, high-repetition-rate laser. We investigate how the spatial separation (or divergence) of the incident laser and the generated high-order harmonics depends on the gas pressure when the laser intensity is in the overdriven regime. It is shown that, when the cone size of the incident annular beam is relatively large, the resulting harmonics are highly collimated along the propagation axis and are spatially separated from the incident beam. Under the overdriven condition, dynamic phase matching favors HHG emissions from short-trajectory electrons that are efficiently built up in the second half of the gas medium. We verify that using an annular beam is a simple and effective method for separating the intense incident infrared laser from the generated high harmonics. Such high-flux and low-divergence light pulses are expected to be powerful sources in the laboratory for ultrafast probing of electron dynamics.