Development of attosecond optical-phase manipulation for the wave-packet engineering

We have developed the "attosecond phase modulator" (APM) for the manipulation of optical phases with an accuracy of attoseconds. The interference of two 300 fs laser pulses at 252 nm has been taken by using this APM; the time delay between those two pulses is tuned with an accuracy of attoseconds by APM to induce constructive and destructive interferences. The interferogram measured by scanning the time delay shows a high-frequency oscillation with a period of 840 as, Quantum mechanical calculations have been performed to demonstrate that APM is useful in manipulating the relative phase of two nuclear wave packets created in a single molecule and controlling their interference with an accuracy of attoseconds. Applications of such an ultraprecise phase-manipulation technique are discussed to propose a possible new field of science and technology which we call the "attosecond wave-packet engineering". (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.