Optimization of high-order harmonic generation by genetic algorithm and wavelet time-frequency analysis of quantum dipole emission

Abstract

We present an ab initio three-dimensional quantum study of the coherent control of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) processes in intense pulsed laser fields by means of the genetic algorithm optimization of the laser-pulse amplitude and phase. Accurate time-dependent wavefunction and HHG power spectrum are obtained by the time-dependent generalized pseudospectral method and wavelet transform is used to obtain the dynamical phase associated with the dipole-emission time profile. It is shown that “intra-atomic” dynamical phase matching on the sub-optical cycle, attosecond, time scale can be achieved, leading to nearly perfect constructive interference between different returning electronic wave packets and marked improvement in both emission intensity and purity of a given harmonic order.