Pressure dependence of high order harmonic generation in nitrogen molecular gas and atmospheric air

Abstract The effect of the variation of the gas pressure on the high harmonic generation (HHG) from nitrogen molecular gas (N 2 ) and atmospheric air with ultrashort intense laser pulses is measured. The optimum pressure in the interaction region of a gas jet for maximizing the HHG yield is determined for both gases. Enhancement of the HHG output and its extension to higher harmonic orders are observed around the optimum pressure value of 0.33 bar. Theoretical calculations based on one-dimensional models explain this effect and provide reasonable agreement with experimental results.