Macroscopic effects in attosecond pulse generation

We examine how the generation and propagation of high-order harmonics in a partly ionized gas medium affect their strength and synchronization. The temporal properties of the resulting attosecond pulses generated in long gas targets can be significantly influenced by macroscopic effects, in particular by the intensity in the medium and the degree of ionization which control the dispersion. Under some conditions, the use of gas targets longer than the absorption length can lead to the generation of compressed attosecond pulses. We show these macroscopic effects experimentally, using a 6 mm-long argon-filled gas cell as the generating medium.