Tailoring the electric-field waveform of ultrashort light pulses forms the basis for controlling nonlinear optical phenomena on their genuine, attosecond timescale. Here we extend waveform control from the visible and near-infrared—where it was previously demonstrated—to the mid-infrared spectral range. Our approach yields single-cycle infrared pulses over several octaves for the first time. Sub-10-fs pulses from a carrier-envelope-phase-stabilized, Kerr-lens-mode-locked, diode-pumped Cr:ZnS laser drive cascaded intrapulse difference-frequency generation and control the electric-field evolution of the resulting coherent emission over 0.9–12.0 μm. Sub-cycle field control in this wavelength range will be instrumental for launching and steering few-femtosecond electron/hole wavepackets in low-gap materials, extending the bandwidth of electronic signal processing to multi-terahertz frequencies, as well as for electric-field-resolved molecular fingerprinting of biological systems.

调整超短光脉冲的电场波形为在其真正的阿秒时间尺度上控制非线性光学现象奠定了基础。在这里，我们将波形控制从可见光和近红外（之前已经演示过）扩展到中红外光谱范围。我们的方法首次在几个倍频程上产生单周期红外脉冲。来自载波包络相位稳定、克尔透镜锁模、二极管泵浦 Cr:ZnS 激光器的亚 10-fs 脉冲驱动级联脉冲内差频生成并控制产生的相干发射的电场演变超过 0.9–12.0 微米。该波长范围内的子周期场控制将有助于在低能隙材料中发射和控制几飞秒的电子/空穴波包，