Linking Attosecond Science in Gases and Solids

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In 1988 Dr. Anne l'Huillier observed the first high-harmonic radiation from an ionizing gas an observation that marked the beginning of extreme nonlinear optics. During the following 5-years, I introduced the major features of this new science, including how to produce and measure the world's shortest pulses, and I described how high harmonic generation could be used to probe the quantum system from which the electron came. In 2011, Dr. S. Ghimire observed the first high-harmonic radiation from transparent solids. This observation marked the beginning of a new phase of extreme nonlinear optics. My group, in collaboration with the Brabec group, introduce the first theory of extreme nonlinear optics in solids and confirmed it experimentally, opening a flood of research. To the surprise of solid-state physicists and photonics scientists, the link between solids and gases is close. It is this link that gives this discovery proposal its name. One of the unique aspects of strong electric-field-driven nonlinearities in gases is self-probing. To capture the technologically of self-probing in solids, we applied for (and received) patents. This proposal concentrates on self-probing (or imaging) and we emphasise four aspects of imaging including: Sensing (specifically sensing electric fields in functioning electronic circuits) and thereby filming the operation of complex circuits. With high harmonic wavelengths reaching 10s of nanometers and a technology that could be extended to attosecond framing speeds, we have the time resolution and spatial resolution for modern electronics. Imaging biological material (an extreme form of multiphoton microscopy). Cellular material is heterogeneous and that heterogeneity will be encoded in the harmonic spectrum. Thus, we have the potential to image biological material with a spatial resolution of organelles and with each pixel containing detailed structural information on the material in which it is generated. (Imaging the 3-D structure of a cell or the dynamics of a functioning electronic circuit has very important technological potential.) Determining lattice or electronic-structure of materials and thereby time resolving phase changes. During high-harmonic generation an electron leaves its local environment and is pulled by the electric field of the fundamental beam through neighbouring sites. The high-harmonic emission spectrum reports on this trajectory, opening a window through which we can learn about electronic and lattice structure in solids. PhD and pdf students who work on self-probing will learn about ultrafast optics, high vacuum systems, computer interfacing, while working with international collaborators. They will also gain experience lecturing at major conferences about an emerging area of solid state physics. As they graduate, they will strengthen and broaden Canadian atto-science in academia, and help move it towards industrial and medical applications.