My research is mainly articulated around the study of high harmonic generation (HHG). This process is happening when we focus ultrashort laser pulses into a gas. High order harmonics of the laser frequency are then emitted in the extreme ultra-violet. The driving laser pulses influence strongly the properties of the generated harmonics such as their yield, their divergence or the cut-off frequency. What happens for instance when the laser pulses get shorter in time, more intense or have a different central frequency?

To be able to investigate these questions experimentally, one requires state-of-the-art driving light sources. A first part of my work is therefore dedicated to the development of sources of ultrashort, high energy laser pulses in table-top setups. This will involve pushing forward the energy scaling in post-compression setups, using for instance multi-pass cells. This will also include conversion techniques to access short and energetic pulses in challenging regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

A second part of my work is focused more theoretically on HHG itself. In particular, since HHG takes place in a gas, all individual atoms contribute to the emission. The emission from each atom needs to interfere constructively in order to generate the harmonics. I will work on simulations and develop simple models to understand phenomena related to this so-called phase-matching condition.