GENERATION OF SHORT-PULSE VUV AND XUV RADIATION

Starting from intense short-pulse KrF (248 nm, 25 mJ, 400 fs), Arf (19 3 nm, 10 mJ, similar to 1 ps), and Ti:sapphire (810 nm, 100 mJ, 150 fs ) laser systems, schemes for the generation of fixed-frequency and tun able VUV and XUV radiation by nonlinear optical techniques are investi gated. With the KrF system, a four-wave mixing process in xenon yields tunable radiation in the range of 130-200 nm with output energies of, so far, 100 mu J in less than 1 ps. For the XUV spectral range below 100 nm, nonperturbative high-order harmonic generation and frequency m ixing processes in noble gas jets are considered. To achieve tunabilit y, the intense fixed-frequency pump laser radiation is mixed with less intense but broadly tunable radiation from short-pulse dye lasers or optical parametric generator-amplifier systems. In this way, tunabilit y down to wavelengths of less than 40 nm has been demonstrated.