Molecular high-order harmonic generation from the ${{\mathrm{H}}_2}^{+}$ ion driven by spatial inhomogeneous fields consisting of the chirped pulse and a terahertz pulse has been theoretically investigated by numerically solving the non–Born-Oppenheimer time-dependent Schrödinger equation. It shows that with the introduction of the chirp as well as the spatial inhomogeneity of the pulse, not only the harmonic cutoff is remarkably extended, but also the single short quantum path is selected to contribute to the harmonic spectra. Moreover, through investigation the effects of the laser and the molecular parameters on the inhomogeneous harmonic generation, we found 1.92- and 3.3-dB enhanced fields for the chirp-free and chirped inhomogeneous pulses, respectively. Isotopic effect shows that intense harmonics can be generated from the lighter molecule. Furthermore, with the enhancement of the initial vibrational state and by properly adding a terahertz controlling pulse, the harmonic yield is enhanced by almost five orders of magnitude compared with the initial single chirped case. As a result, a 362-eV supercontinuum (which corresponds to a 4.0-dB laser field enhancement) with five orders of magnitude improvement is obtained. Finally, by properly superposing the harmonics, a series of intense extreme ultraviolet pulses with durations from 22 to 52 as can be produced.

• Received 11 August 2015
• Revised 3 October 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.92.053832