Plateau reshaping in solid-state high-harmonic generation driven by the photon statistics of a bright squeezed vacuum
Phys. Rev. A 114, 043101 – Published 1 October, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mhql-g61x
Abstract
The emerging generation of high brightness quantum light sources opens up new avenues for exploring ultrafast nonlinear optics beyond the classical field regime. Here we study high-harmonic generation (HHG) in ZnO driven by a bright squeezed vacuum (BSV) and show that the photon statistics of the driving field can strongly reshape the harmonic response. In particular, BSV suppresses the harmonic order modulation in the plateau region, washing out the discrete comb-like structure and giving rise to a markedly more continuum-like spectrum. With the carrier dynamics examined in momentum space and in the time-frequency domain, we find that coherent-state components with different field amplitudes generate different excitation and recombination dynamics. Their Husimi Q weighted superposition statistically reweights these microscopic pathways, leading to a more localized averaged emission pattern in time. We further characterize how the driving field statistics are transferred to harmonic yield fluctuations through an effective harmonic intensity fluctuation indicator. These results show that the photon statistics of BSV pulses can noticeably influence solid-state HHG and provide an additional handle for reshaping broadband harmonic spectra and strong field emission in solids under nonclassical laser conditions.
