Science at the Timescale of the Electron: Harnessing the Extreme Nonlinear Optics of High Harmonic Generation for Tabletop Coherent X-Rays.

Margaret Murnane,

JILA, University of Colorado, Boulder

Ever since the invention of the laser 50 years ago, scientists have been striving to extend coherent laser-like beams into the X-ray region of the spectrum. Very recently, we used tabletop ultraviolet and mid-infrared femtosecond lasers to achieve this goal, and create bright X-ray beams at wavelengths spanning from the UV to < 10 Angstroms. The X‑ray waveforms that are generated represent a coherent version of the Rontgen X-ray tube in the soft X-ray region. Moreover, the limits of this new light source are not yet known. Applications in nanoscale imaging as well as nanoscale energy and spin transport in materials will also be discussed.