Attosecond Light Skyrmion Pulses via High Harmonic Generation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Paraxial light skyrmions are topological configurations that map a spatial domain of the field onto the full Poincaré sphere of polarization states. While optical skyrmions have been explored in continuous-wave regimes, their realization in the ultrafast domain remains open. Here we demonstrate that attosecond skyrmion pulses can be generated via high-harmonic generation. Advanced simulations combining single-atom strong-field theory and macroscopic propagation reveal that an infrared linearly polarized vector beam with fractional orbital angular momentum produces extreme-ultraviolet harmonic fields with nearly identical skyrmion polarization distributions across a broad spectral range. Using 1.2 $μ$m driving fields and experimentally feasible spectral filtering, we show that the coherent superposition of consecutive harmonics centered at 70 eV yields a train of skyrmion pulses with $\sim500$ attoseconds duration. Our results open opportunities to use structured attosecond light with topological polarization textures in fields as ultrafast control, imaging and spectroscopy.
Source: Ultrafast Science
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Awards: G1746194518, G1848059663, G6054992498
OpenAlex ID: W4417387417