Coherent control of the electron quantum paths for the generation of single ultrashort attosecond laser pulse.

We report a mechanism and a realizable approach for the coherent control of the generation of an isolated and ultrashort attosecond (as) laser pulse from atoms by optimizing the two-color laser fields with a proper time delay. Optimizing the laser pulse shape allows the control of the electron quantum paths and enables high-harmonic generation from the long- and short-trajectory electrons to be enhanced and split near the cutoff region. In addition, it delays the long-trajectory electron emission time and allows the production of extremely short attosecond pulses in a relatively narrow time duration. As a case study, we show that an isolated 30 as pulse with a bandwidth of 127 eV can be generated directly from the contribution of long-trajectory electrons alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]