Strong field interactions in liquids: are they gases or solids?

Speaker:  Mary Matthews, Imperial College

Program Description:
A high intensity laser pulse targeted on a jet of gas produces extreme UV emission, higher harmonics of the input laser frequency. This high harmonic generation (HHG) appears to be a universal phenomenon observed also from solids, liquid sheets and plasmas. In the condensed phases HHG can be used to probe ultrafast electron dynamics, a source of attosecond pulses and a new frontier in HHG spectroscopy. The mechanism of HHG in liquids is not fully understood. We present HHG from a liquid alcohol with spectra extending to 50eV, the highest observed from condensed phase, and explore the mechanism behind this.