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Science 20 October 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5798, pp. 443 - 446
DOI: 10.1126/science.1132838
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Reports

Isolated Single-Cycle Attosecond Pulses

G. Sansone,1 E. Benedetti,1 F. Calegari,1 C. Vozzi,1 L. Avaldi,2 R. Flammini,2 L. Poletto,3 P. Villoresi,3 C. Altucci,4 R. Velotta,4 S. Stagira,1 S. De Silvestri,1 M. Nisoli1*

We generated single-cycle isolated attosecond pulses around ~36 electron volts using phase-stabilized 5-femtosecond driving pulses with a modulated polarization state. Using a complete temporal characterization technique, we demonstrated the compression of the generated pulses for as low as 130 attoseconds, corresponding to less than 1.2 optical cycles. Numerical simulations of the generation process show that the carrier-envelope phase of the attosecond pulses is stable. The availability of single-cycle isolated attosecond pulses opens the way to a new regime in ultrafast physics, in which the strong-field electron dynamics in atoms and molecules is driven by the electric field of the attosecond pulses rather than by their intensity profile.

1 National Laboratory for Ultrafast and Ultraintense Optical Science–CNR-Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, Department of Physics, Politecnico, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
2 CNR-Istituto di Metodologie Inorganiche e dei Plasmi Area della Ricerca di Roma 1, Monterotondo Scalo 00016, Italy.
3 Laboratory for Ultraviolet and X-ray Optical Research–CNR-INFM, Department of Information Engineering–Università di Padova, Padova 35131, Italy.
4 Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze Fisiche della Materia-Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Università di Napoli Federico II, Napoli 80138, Italy.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mauro.nisoli{at}fisi.polimi.it

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)