Temporal gating methods for the generation of isolated attosecond pulses

High-order harmonics of ultrashort laser pulses appear in the time domain as a sequence of attosecond bursts of coherent extreme ultraviolet radiation separated by half the optical cycle of the laser field. In order to confine this emission to an isolated attosecond pulse, suitable gating techniques have been proposed and investigated. In this work, we review a few gating techniques used in our laboratories, along with the basic tools for the generation and application of attosecond pulses.