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The countless applications of ultrashort laser pulses in very different scientific areas explain the ongoing efforts to develop new strategies for the generation of light pulses with increasingly better characteristics. In this work, we theoretically study the application of the nonlinear reverse propagation method to produce few-cycle pulses with clean temporal profiles from standard post-compression setups based in hollow capillary fibers. By numerically solving the propagation of a desired goal pulse in the backward direction, we are able to predict the structure of the ideal input pulse that could be perfectly compressed in a given setup. Although the goal pulse cannot be chosen in a simple manner due to the fundamental symmetries of the nonlinear propagation equation, our analysis shows that the ideal pulse presents a recurring form and that, in general, both its intensity profile and phase must be shaped to recover the optimized goal output., Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures

High-order harmonic generation (HHG) arising from the non-perturbative interaction of intense light fields with matter constitutes a well-established tabletop source of coherent extreme-ultraviolet and soft X-ray radiation, which is typically emitted as attosecond pulse trains. However, ultrafast applications increasingly demand isolated attosecond pulses (IAPs), which offer great promise for advancing precision control of electron dynamics. Yet, the direct generation of IAPs typically requires the synthesis of near-single-cycle intense driving fields, which is technologically challenging. In this work, we theoretically demonstrate a novel scheme for the straightforward and compact generation of IAPs from multi-cycle infrared drivers using hollow capillary fibers (HCFs). Starting from a standard, intense multi-cycle infrared pulse, a light transient is generated by extreme soliton self-compression in a HCF with decreasing pressure, and is subsequently used to drive HHG in a gas target. Owing to the sub-cycle confinement of the HHG process, high-contrast IAPs are continuously emitted almost independently of the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of the optimally self-compressed drivers. This results in a CEP-robust scheme which is also stable under macroscopic propagation of the high harmonics in a gas target. Our results open the way to a new generation of integrated all-fiber IAP sources, overcoming the efficiency limitations of usual gating techniques for multi-cycle drivers., Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures

We report a novel scheme to generate laser-induced, ultrafast, intense (Tesla scale), spatially isolated, magnetic fields. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that a femtosecond azimuthally-polarized infrared vector beam, aimed to a conducting circular aperture, produces an intense axially polarized tip-shaped femtosecond magnetic field, extending over micrometer distances and being isolated from the electric field. Our results are backed-up by an analytic model, demonstrating the underlying physics and guiding for optimal parameters. In particular, we find the conditions under which the magnetic nanoprobe is substantially enhanced, reaching 4 T when driven by a $10^{11}$ W/cm$^2$ laser field, which reflects a selective enhancement by a factor of $\sim$6. Our scheme offers a promising tool to control, probe and tailor magnetic nanodomains in femtosecond timescales through pure magnetic interaction by using structured laser beams.

Soliton self-compression is demonstrated during the propagation of high spatial modes in hollow core fibers in the near-infrared spectral region, taking advantage of their negative dispersion response. We have found that there is always an optimum spatial mode to observe this phenomenon, compressing the pulses down to the single-cycle regime without needing any external compression device and with a consequent increase in the output peak power. Our result is relevant for any ultrashort laser application in which few- or single-cycle pulses are crucial., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Gas-filled hollow-core fiber (HCF) pulse post-compressors generating few- to single-cycle pulses are a key enabling tool for attosecond science and ultrafast spectroscopy. Achieving optimum performance in this regime can be extremely challenging due to the ultra-broad bandwidth of the pulses and the need of an adequate temporal diagnostic. These difficulties have hindered the full exploitation of HCF post-compressors, namely the generation of stable and high-quality near-Fourier-transform-limited pulses. Here we show that, independently of conditions such as the type of gas or the laser system used, there is a universal route to obtain the shortest stable output pulse down to the single-cycle regime. Numerical simulations and experimental measurements performed with the dispersion-scan technique reveal that, in quite general conditions, post-compressed pulses exhibit a residual third-order dispersion intrinsic to optimum nonlinear propagation within the fiber, in agreement with measurements independently performed in several laboratories around the world. The understanding of this effect and its adequate correction, e.g. using simple transparent optical media, enables achieving high-quality post-compressed pulses with only minor changes in existing setups. These optimized sources have impact in many fields of science and technology and should enable new and exciting applications in the few- to single-cycle pulse regime.