An efficient method to generate a short attosecond pulse is presented by using intense few-cycle shaped infrared (ir) laser in combination with an ultraviolet (uv) attosecond (as) pulse. We show that high-order harmonic generation (HHG) plateau near the cutoff is enhanced by one order of magnitude compared with the shaped laser case and the HHG supercontinuum spectrum is generated by adding a uv attosecond pulse to the few-cycle shaped ir laser at a proper time. By enhancing the long quantum path and suppressing the short one corresponding to one major return, an isolated 57-as pulse with a bandwidth of $62\mathrm{eV}$ is obtained directly. The time-frequency characteristics of the HHG are analyzed in detail by means of the wavelet transform of the time-dependent induced dipole acceleration. In addition, we also perform classical trajectory simulation of the strong-field electron dynamics and electron return map.

• Received 27 March 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.78.063404