Generating single attosecond pulse using multi-cycle lasers in a polarization gate

We analyze the macroscopic effects which are responsible for producing clean isolated pulses lasting few hundreds of attoseconds when starting from multi-cycle fundamental pulses. In particular, we consider a polarization gating scheme and show that, at high fundamental peak intensities, in the range 0.7-1 PWcm(-2), it usually produces three-four main attosecond pulses of radiation at single dipole level, just located in the leading edge of the laser pulse. We describe the physical mechanisms contributing to the formation of a single attosecond pulse by using a three dimensional non-adiabatic model and a quantum trajectory phase calculation. An analysis of the scheme optimization and stability against various parameters is performed in view of an experimental scheme implementation. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America