Generation of circular polarized high-order harmonics from single color quantum light

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Petrovic, Lidija, Stammer, Philipp, Lewenstein, Maciej, Rivera-Dean, Javier
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Petrovic, Lidija
Stammer, Philipp
Lewenstein, Maciej
Rivera-Dean, Javier
author_facet Petrovic, Lidija
Stammer, Philipp
Lewenstein, Maciej
Rivera-Dean, Javier
contents The atomic response to an ultra-intense driving field produces a characteristic high-harmonic spectrum featuring a rapid drop in intensity for the lower harmonics, followed by a plateau and a sharp cutoff. This response vanishes for circularly polarized classical drivers -- a limitation that can be overcome by introducing quantum features into the driving field. In this work, we show that squeezed highly elliptically polarized drivers not only enable the high-harmonic generation (HHG) process in classically forbidden regimes of large ellipticity, but also yield highly elliptical harmonic radiation with pronounced super-Poissonian photon statistics. Moreover, we show that the HHG spectral features encode information about the quantum nature of the driving field, revealing the presence of its squeezed field fluctuations. By analyzing the HHG spectral intensity dependence as a function of the driver's ellipticity and squeezing orientation, we identify a means to probe the driving field's quantum properties that intrinsically lie in the high-photon number regime.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_01611
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Generation of circular polarized high-order harmonics from single color quantum light
Petrovic, Lidija
Stammer, Philipp
Lewenstein, Maciej
Rivera-Dean, Javier
Quantum Physics
Optics
The atomic response to an ultra-intense driving field produces a characteristic high-harmonic spectrum featuring a rapid drop in intensity for the lower harmonics, followed by a plateau and a sharp cutoff. This response vanishes for circularly polarized classical drivers -- a limitation that can be overcome by introducing quantum features into the driving field. In this work, we show that squeezed highly elliptically polarized drivers not only enable the high-harmonic generation (HHG) process in classically forbidden regimes of large ellipticity, but also yield highly elliptical harmonic radiation with pronounced super-Poissonian photon statistics. Moreover, we show that the HHG spectral features encode information about the quantum nature of the driving field, revealing the presence of its squeezed field fluctuations. By analyzing the HHG spectral intensity dependence as a function of the driver's ellipticity and squeezing orientation, we identify a means to probe the driving field's quantum properties that intrinsically lie in the high-photon number regime.
title Generation of circular polarized high-order harmonics from single color quantum light
topic Quantum Physics
Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.01611