Broadband large-ellipticity harmonic generation with polar molecules.

We investigate the polarization properties of high harmonic generation from polar molecules with a linearly polarized field. It is found that elliptically polarized harmonics are observed in a wide spectral range from the plateau to the cutoff. Further analyses show that the nonsymmetric structure of the highest occupied molecular orbital is the origin of ellipticity of the harmonics. The results provide a method for generation of large-ellipticity XUV pulses, which will benefit the application of HHG as a tool of detection in materials and biology science.