Nuclear signatures on the molecular harmonic emission and the attosecond pulse generation

In this paper, we theoretically investigate the nuclear signatures effects, i.e., the initial vibrational state and the isotopic effects on the generations of the molecular high-order harmonics and the attosecond pulses when the model H-2(+)/D-2(+) ions are exposed to a 5 fs/800 nm chirp pulse. The numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation for these vibrating molecule ions shows that the intensities of the harmonic spectra are reinforced with the enhancement of the initial vibrational state. Moreover, through the investigation of the isotopic effect, we find that more intense harmonics are generated in the lighter nucleus. Furthermore, by optimizing the chirp pulse under the optimal initial vibrational state, an intense ultrabroad supercontinuum with a 325 eV bandwidth can be obtained. By properly superposing the harmonic spectrum, an attosecond pulse as short as 57 as (16 as) is generated without (with) phase compensation. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3681165]