Isolated attosecond pulses (IAPs) are generated via applying amplitude gating on high-order harmonic generation driven by carrier-envelope phase stabilized 5.2 fs pulses with 0.5 mJ pulse energy at 770 nm central wavelength at the Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility. A continuum ranging from 70 to 100 eV that supports sub-100-attosecond pulse is extracted by Zr foil and Mo/Si multilayer mirror. We demonstrate the characterization of the IAP. The retrieved pulse duration is 86 attoseconds. The developed attosecond laser beamline with repetition rate up to 10 kHz is available for users to conduct attosecond photoelectron spectroscopy researches with a capability of coincidence measurement.

The availability of ever stronger, laser-generated electromagnetic fields underpins continuing progress in the study and application of nonlinear phenomena in basic physical systems, ranging from molecules and atoms to relativistic plasmas and quantum electrodynamics. This raises the question: how far will we be able to go with future lasers? One exciting prospect is the attainment of field strengths approaching the Schwinger critical field ${E}_{\mathrm{cr}}$ in the laboratory frame, such that the field invariant ${E}^2-{c}^2{B}^2>{E}_{\mathrm{cr}}^2$ is reached. The feasibility of doing so has been questioned, on the basis that cascade generation of dense electron–positron plasma would inevitably lead to absorption or screening of the incident light. Here we discuss the potential for future lasers to overcome such obstacles, by combining the concept of multiple colliding laser pulses with that of frequency upshifting via a tailored laser–plasma interaction. This compresses the electromagnetic field energy into a region of nanometre size and attosecond duration, which increases the field magnitude at fixed power but also suppresses pair cascades. Our results indicate that laser facilities with peak power of tens of PW could be capable of reaching ${E}_{\mathrm{cr}}$ . Such a scenario opens up prospects for the experimental investigation of phenomena previously considered to occur only in the most extreme environments in the universe.

Spatiotemporal optical vortex (STOV) pulses carrying purely transverse intrinsic orbital angular momentum (TOAM) are attracting increasing attention because the TOAM provides a new degree of freedom to characterize light–matter interactions. In this paper, using particle-in-cell simulations, we present spatiotemporal high-harmonic generation in the relativistic region, driven by an intense STOV beam impinging on a plasma target. It is shown that the plasma surface acts as a spatial–temporal-coupled relativistic oscillating mirror with various frequencies. The spatiotemporal features are satisfactorily transferred to the harmonics such that the TOAM scales with the harmonic order. Benefitting from the ultrahigh damage threshold of the plasma over the optical media, the intensity of the harmonics can reach the relativistic region. This study provides a new approach for generating intense spatiotemporal extreme ultraviolet vortices and investigating STOV light–matter interactions at relativistic intensities.

随着超快超强激光技术的发展，强激光场光与物质相互作用的研究得到了广泛的关注。与此同时，光场调控技术在经典光学领域中的快速发展为光学操控提供了一个新的自由度。近年来，这两个不同领域之间的结合——具有空间结构的强激光场与物质相互作用，成为了强场物理前沿研究的热点之一。光电离和高次谐波是传统强场科学中两个十分基本又非常重要的物理过程。本文总结和综述了涡旋强激光场对光电离过程的影响和控制方面的研究进展，以及利用涡旋光束或者柱矢量光束驱动气体高次谐波产生等方面的最新工作，最后展望了具有空间结构强激光场与物质相互作用物理和光场调控研究的发展方向。