Tuning the Ellipticity of High-Order Harmonics from Helium in Orthogonal Two-Color Laser Fields
High-order harmonic generation in atomic systems driven by laser fields with tailored symmetries provides a powerful approach for producing structured ultrafast light sources. In this work, we theoretically investigate the ellipticity control of high-order harmonics emitted from helium atoms exposed to orthogonally polarized two-color laser pulses with a 1:3 frequency ratio. The polarization properties of the harmonics are governed by the interplay between the spatial symmetry of the driving field and the atomic potential. By numerically solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, we show that fine-tuning the relative phase and amplitude ratio between the fundamental and third-harmonic components enables selective symmetry breaking, resulting in the emission of elliptically and circularly polarized harmonics. Remarkably, we achieve near-perfect circular polarization (ellipticity ≈ 0.995) for the 5th harmonic, as well as highly circularly polarized 17th (0.945), 21st (0.96), and 23rd (0.935) harmonics, demonstrating a level of polarization control and efficiency that exceeds previous schemes. Our results highlight the advantage of using a 1:3 frequency ratio orthogonally polarized two-color laser field over the conventional 1:2 configuration, offering a promising route toward tunable attosecond light sources with tailored polarization characteristics.
Authors
- Yue Qiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8669-2375)
- Shushan Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0504-987X)
- Nan Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9737-396X)
- Yujun Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3414-6097)
- Hao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8896-5496)
- Mu-Hong Hu
- Fu-Ming Guo
Institutions
- Liaoning Normal University (CN)
- Yantai University (CN)
- Jilin University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Symmetry
- Published
- 2025-06-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/sym17060967
- Primary Topic
- Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China