Abstract:
Attosecond physics looks into ultrafast light-matter interactions, with high-harmonic generation (HHG) as its hallmark effect. It relies on intense classical (coherent-state) laser light with large photon numbers, while quantum optics usually operates with low photon numbers and non-classical quantum states. In my talk, I will present two works that bridge between attosecond physics and quantum optics. In the first work, we successfully replace the classical (coherent-state) laser pulses by intense non-classical light – bright squeezed vacuum (BSV) – to drive HHG in solids. We show how the BSV’s extremely noisy photon statistics is transferred to its harmonics, leading to a strong enhancement of the harmonic yield and enabling studies of electron-hole dynamics at extreme intensities. In a second work, we measure the Wigner function of a harmonic driven by classical (coherent-state) light in the non-perturbative regime, showing that the quantum state of the harmonic is not trivial. Our work bears the prospect of extending the frontier of quantum optics and non-classical light into the extreme-ultraviolet spectral regime.



Bio:
Dr. Michael Krueger joined the Technion as an assistant professor of Physics in 2019. He received his Ph.D. from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, in 2013. From 2014 to 2019, he performed postdoc research at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. In his research, Michael studies ultrafast quantum phenomena on the nanoscale. His main scientific achievements resulting from his Ph.D. have laid the foundation for the integration of attosecond science and nanoscience. This advancement could lead to novel microscopy approaches with extreme time resolution. For his Ph.D. work, Michael received the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society in 2015. For his research at Technion, he has been awarded with a Starting Grant of the European Research Council.