We have investigated high-order harmonic generation from asymmetric molecules. It is found that supercontinuous high harmonics, which are produced from asymmetric molecules by significantly steering the ionization, are broken down when the electric field of the 5-fs driving laser pulse is increased to 0.16 a.u. The high harmonic generation from asymmetric molecules with the presence of a terahertz field is also investigated. This reveals that the terahertz controlled laser pulse significantly increases the energy difference between photons, emitted from the ejected electrons, in the first and second halves of the optical cycle at the centre of the driving laser pulse. In this way, a 200-eV broadband supercontinuum can be produced in the plateau, from which a 60-as pulse with a bandwidth of 60 eV can be directly obtained with a minor post-pulse.
We propose a method to generate a high-efficiency broadband water window supercontinuum with a w ＋ 3w/2 multicycle two-colour pulse. Our results reveal that the 3w/2 laser pulse can simultaneously modulate the acceleration step and the ionization step, which not only broadens the bandwidth but also enhances the yield of the generated supercontinuum. An ultra-broadband supercontinuum from 290 eV to 555 eV covering the whole water window is generated. Using this method, we expect that an isolated 62-as pulse with a minor pre-pulse can be directly obtained.
