Abstract

The field of “lightwave electronics” [1], the control of atomic scale electronic motion by ultrafast optical electric field waveforms strong enough to mitigate the atomic Coulomb potential, has broken tremendous new ground with the advent of phase controlled high-energy few-cycle pulse sources. Currently, such sources are based on Ti:sapphire amplifiers and hollow-core fiber post-compression [2] or optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) [3], together with optical gating techniques. Significant control of the waveform on sub-cycle time scales, however, requires a fully phase-controlled multiple-octave-spanning spectrum. Such a waveform, close to transform limit, has its energy localized to a single-cycle or shorter interval, and can deviate from a sinsusoidal wave.

© 2010 Optical Society of America