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Generation of attosecond pulses from relativistic oscillating plasma gratings

Hao-Jie Zhang1, Bo-Yuan Li1, Xiang-Yan An1,2, Rong Huang1, Zheng-Ming Sheng1,2, Feng Liu1,*, and Min Chen1,†

  • *Contact author: liuf001@sjtu.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: minchen@sjtu.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023261 – Published 8 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/zpdt-bjm4

Abstract

We propose a scheme to generate two isolated attosecond pulses at controllable angles through the interaction between relativistic laser pulses and a solid target. Two p-polarized laser pulses with certain frequency chirps are employed to drive oscillating plasma gratings (OPGs) on the target surface, while an s-polarized laser serves as the seed to trigger high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from the OPGs. Unlike HHG from the usual oscillating plasma mirrors, the OPGs not only generate harmonics but also diffract them. The evolution of the emission angles of the diffracted harmonics can be controlled through the laser chirp. At three specific angles, selected harmonics can be synthesized to attosecond pulse trains, and at two of these angles to isolated attosecond pulses. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are used to demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of the scheme, which shows that isolated attosecond pulse with duration around 30 as and intensity close to 1017W/cm2 can be stably generated. The scheme enables applications that require two isolated attosecond pulses with independent controllability.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023261– Published 8 June, 2026
  • Received 8 November 2025
  • Accepted 11 May 2026
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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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