High-order harmonic generation from Rydberg atoms in inhomogeneous fields.

We theoretically investigate the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from Rydberg atoms considering the spatial inhomogeneity of the driving field. It is found that in the inhomogeneous field, the effect of the cutoff extension in the harmonic spectrum from Rydberg atoms can be extended to multi-cycle regime, while in the homogeneous field case, the extension of the harmonic cutoff is limited to the few-cycle regime (less than two optical cycles). The underlying physics of the cutoff extension from Rydberg atoms in the inhomogeneous field is analyzed based on the classical and quantum-mechanical models. Furthermore, by optimizing the field inhomogeneity, the electron dynamics can be well controlled to generate a smooth supercontinuum in the extended spectral region. This can support the efficient generation of isolated attosecond pulses in Rydberg atoms from multi-cycle laser fields.