Single-Cycle Infrared Waveform Generation and Control

Abstract

Tailoring the electric-field waveform of few-cycle light pulses lays the foundation for controlling nonlinear optical phenomena on their genuine, attosecond time scale. So far, waveform control has been demonstrated mostly in the visible-to-near-infrared spectral region. Extending it to the mid-infrared range will open up new prospects in ultrafast optoelectronics as well as broadband field-resolved spectroscopy. We present a novel approach for shaping few-cycle waveforms, and thereby achieved the first multi-octave synthesis of single-cycle transients in the mid-infrared spectral range, with a continuously adjustable and highly-reproducible electric-field evolution. The concept is generalizable towards the synthesis of a broader variety of infrared waveforms, with a diversity of applications in ultrafast opto-electronics, attosecond metrology and field-resolved mid-infrared sensing.