Generation of intense attosecond x-ray pulses using ultraviolet laser induced microbunching in electron beams

We propose a scheme that combines the echo-enabled harmonic generation technique with the bunch compression and allows one to generate harmonic numbers of a few hundred in a microbunched beam through up-conversion of the frequency of an ultraviolet seed laser. A few-cycle intense laser is used to generate the required energy chirp in the beam for bunch compression and for selection of an attosecond x-ray pulse. Sending this beam through a short undulator results in an intense isolated attosecond x-ray pulse. Using a representative realistic set of parameters, we show that 1 nm x-ray pulse with peak power of a few hundred MW and duration as short as 20 attoseconds (FWHM) can be generated from a 200 nm ultraviolet seed laser. The proposed scheme may enable the study of electronic dynamics with a resolution beyond the atomic unit of time (∼24 attoseconds) and may open a new regime of ultrafast sciences.