High-order harmonic generation in rare gases with an intense short-pulse laser

We present experimental studies of high-order harmonic generation in the rare gases performed with a short-pulse titanium sapphire laser operating at 794 nm in the 10^14--10^15-W/cm^2 range. The harmonic yields generated in neon and in argon are studied for all orders as a function of the laser intensity. They vary first rather steeply, in the cutoff region, then much more slowly in the plateau region, and, finally, they saturate when the medium gets ionized. The dependence of the high-order harmonic cutoff with the laser intensity in neon and argon is found to be lower than that predicted in single-atom theories. We observe high-order harmonics in argon and xenon (up to the 65th and 45th, respectively) at 10^15 W/cm^2, which we attribute to harmonic generation from ions. We also show how the harmonic and fundamental spectra get blueshifted when the medium becomes ionized.