GENERATION OF PICOSECOND VUV RADIATION BY 4-WAVE-MIXING OF NANOSECONDAND PICOSECOND LASER RADIATIONS

We use the four-wave difference frequency mixing of a nanosecond laser (UV) and a picosecond laser (visible) in xenon gas to generate a pico second VUV laser radiation. Since the visible laser has a spectral ran ge between 450 nm and 800 nm, we can obtain a tunable VUV laser, from 148 nm to 173 nm. The time duration of the pulses generated depends (l inearly in our case) on the shortest laser, which is the picosecond la ser.