Nonlinear optics is required to develop new light sources that go beyond the range of wavelengths and pulse durations naturally achieved with laser systems. Despite being more than six decades old, the field of nonlinear optics is still a rich source of research and surprises. Over the last decade, the use of gas-filled hollow fibres as a platform for pushing the boundaries of nonlinear frequency conversion and pulse compression has become established. In my research group we are pushing this platform to its extremes.
In this seminar I will start by surveying some of the key developments in the use gas-filled hollow fibres for ultrafast nonlinear optics. I will briefly survey the wide-ranging results based on this platform over the last 15 years. Next, I will explain results from my group on the production of high energy multi-octave supercontinua and the generation of tuneable few-femtosecond pulses in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) region (down to 100 nm), and how this work is being further developed to high repetition rates, and exploited for applications. Finally, I will describe the most ambitious systems under development in my labs, which we hope will unlock access to high brightness table-top attosecond X-ray and electron pulses for the first time.