Harnessing carbon plasma for extreme photonics and advanced materials

科学家们目前正在开发强、超快X射线的闪光，以开辟以前无法进入的研究领域，提供关于超小型(原子水平)和超快的新知识。目前超快的前沿涉及阿秒(10^-18 S=五分之一秒)，这是束缚在原子内部的电子运动的时间尺度。阿秒脉冲产生的物理学及其相关领域在阿特科学领域取得了令人难以置信的进展。然而，我们目前正面临着阿秒科学的一个新的重大挑战，那就是超越简单的观测，研究能够在阿秒时间尺度上引导和控制物质和能量的新技术。为此，人们正在积极研究各种产生强烈阿秒辐射脉冲的方法，其中一种被称为高次谐波产生(HHG)的非线性过程是领先的。最受欢迎的 到目前为止，研究HHG的介质一直是气体。然而，T.Ozaki最近证明了碳等离子体是HHG的一种特别有效的介质，并且它还显示出气体介质中从未观察到的独特特性，例如大的波长移位和谐波的可调性。在拟议的战略项目中，我们将利用T.Ozaki团队最近的发现，并与两家加拿大公司合作开发一种高度稳定的静态碳等离子体设备，该设备可用于产生也具有波长可调谐的单个阿秒脉冲。这样的放射源在世界上绝对是独一无二的，确保了加拿大工业和加拿大科学技术的领先地位。大学与企业之间的学生和博士后研究员的交流和共同指导 还将使这些高素质的人员为光学和光子学就业市场做好准备。

Scientists are currently developing flashes of intense, ultrafast X-rays to open up areas of research that were previously inaccessible, providing new knowledge of the ultrasmall (at the atomic level) and the ultrafast. The present frontier of the ultrafast involves times of attoseconds (10^-18 s = one quintillionth of a second), which is the timescale of the motion of electrons bound inside the atom. The physics of attosecond pulse generation and related fields in attoscience has shown incredible progress. However, we are currently facing a new grand challenge in attosecond science, that is, to move beyond simple observation, and to study new technologies that will enable the direction and control of matter and energy at the attosecond timescale. For this purpose, various methods to generate intense attosecond pulses of radiation are being actively studied, with a nonlinear process known as high-order harmonic generation (HHG) leading the way. The most popular medium to study HHG has been up to now gas. However, T. Ozaki has recently demonstrated that carbon plasma is an especially efficient medium for HHG, and that it also exhibits unique features that have never been observed with gas media, such as the large wavelength shift and tunability of the harmonics. In the proposed Strategic project, we will capitalize on such recent findings by T. Ozaki's group, and work with two Canadian companies to develop a highly stable, static carbon plasma device, which could be used to generate intense, single attosecond pulses that also have wavelength tunability. Such a radiation source would be absolutely unique in the world, assuring leadership of Canadian industry as well as Canadian science and technology. The exchange and co-direction of students and postdoctoral fellows among university and industry will also allow these Highly Qualified Personnel to be well prepared for the optics and photonics job market.