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Harmonic generation in preionized liquid plasmas driven by intense midinfrared pulses

Tomoya Mizuno*, Tianqi Yang, Takayuki Kurihara†, Yimin Gu, Tomoyuki Shoji, Teruto Kanai, and Jiro Itatani‡

  • The Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan

  • *Contact author: mizuno.tomoya@issp.u-tokyo.ac.jp
  • †Present address: Department of Basic Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
  • ‡Contact author: jitatani@issp.u-tokyo.ac.jp
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Phys. Rev. A 112, 043123 – Published 31 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1mtc-m2gt

Abstract

We investigated harmonic generation in preionized liquid ethanol and water driven by linearly polarized midinfrared (MIR) pulses at a center wavelength of 3100 nm. The liquid targets were preionized by a near-infrared pump pulse at 800 nm, enabling systematic control of the electron density in the liquids. At low pump intensities, the harmonic spectra remain unchanged. In contrast, at intermediate pump intensities, the spectra exhibit pronounced target- and delay-dependent modifications, reflecting changes in the optical properties of the ionized liquids. At high intensities, where the electron density exceeds the critical plasma density for MIR light, harmonic yields are strongly suppressed and spectral broadening disappears. Numerical simulations based on the nonlinear propagation model, incorporating plasma and Kerr effects, qualitatively reproduce the experimental observations above the critical plasma density and confirm the significant role of plasma shuttering in harmonic generation. The observation of narrow harmonic spectra provides clear evidence of evanescent-field-induced harmonic generation in preionized liquids. This highlights the potential of ionized liquid plasmas as a robust platform for exploring strong-field phenomena driven by intense and spatially nonuniform fields, beyond the damage thresholds of conventional materials.

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Phys. Rev. A 112, 043123– Published 31 October, 2025
  • Received 28 May 2025
  • Accepted 9 October 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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