Enhancement of conversion efficiency and spatial coherence of high order harmonics generated from pre-formed plasma plumes using an apertured laser beam

Abstract

The effect of laser beam aperturing (Ti: sapphire laser; 800 nm, 45 fs) on the conversion efficiency (CE), harmonic yield and spatial coherence of high order harmonics generated from a low excited plasma plume of carbon (neutral and singly charged ions) is studied. The optimization of CE by varying the aperture size in combination with different laser and plasma plume parameters was carried out. The CE of the 15th harmonic is enhanced from ∼10−7 for an unapertured laser beam to ∼10−6 for ∼¼ times the unapertured beam diameter, at same laser energy in both cases. Further, it was found that, at a given aperture size, there is an optimum prepulse intensity for maximum CE. The results are explained by taking into account the theoretical consideration of phase matching issues in plasma plumes. The study shows that tuning the prepulse intensity and aperture size gives an easy handle to increase the harmonic conversion along with its coherence properties. The study will be useful for producing an intense source of harmonics with high spatial coherence from plasmas plumes for applications.