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Quasi-phase-matched generation of coherent extreme-ultraviolet light

Nature volume 421, pages 51–54 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

High-harmonic generation is a well-known method of producing coherent extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) light, with photon energies up to about 0.5 keV (refs 1, 2). This is achieved by focusing a femtosecond laser into a gas, and high harmonics of the fundamental laser frequency are radiated in the forward direction3,4. However, although this process can generate high-energy photons, efficient high-harmonic generation has been demonstrated only for photon energies of the order 50–100 eV (ref. 5). Ionization of the gas prevents the laser and the EUV light from propagating at the same speed, which severely limits the conversion efficiency. Here we report a technique to overcome this problem, and demonstrate quasi-phase-matched frequency conversion of laser light into EUV. Using a modulated hollow-core waveguide to periodically vary the intensity of the laser light driving the conversion, we efficiently generate EUV light even in the presence of substantial ionization. The use of a modulated fibre shifts the energy spectrum of the high-harmonic light to significantly higher photon energies than would otherwise be possible. We expect that this technique could form the basis of coherent EUV sources for advanced lithography and high-resolution imaging applications. In future work, it might also be possible to generate isolated attosecond pulses.

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Figure 1: Modulated hollow-core fibres used to implement quasi-phase matching in the EUV.
Figure 2: Experimentally measured HHG spectra for straight (blue) and modulated (red) fibres.
Figure 3: Experimentally measured HHG spectra from Ar for straight (blue) and modulated (red) fibres, at lower intensities than Fig. 2c, and at a pressure of 25 torr.
Figure 4: Experimentally measured HHG spectra (log scale) from He for three different periodicities of the modulated fibres, each 2.5 cm in length.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and JILA, University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado, 80309-0440, USA

    A. Paul, R. A. Bartels, R. Tobey, H. Green, S. Weiman, M. M. Murnane, H. C. Kapteyn & S. Backus

  2. Department of Physics, Sofia University, 1164, Sofia, Bulgaria

    I. P. Christov

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Correspondence to M. M. Murnane.

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Competing interests

‘The laser used to drive the EUV system was recently commercialized by our company (Kapteyn-Murnane Laboratories LLC). Other companies also sell a similar laser system. Some of the concepts used in this work are covered by US Patent no. 6151155.’

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Paul, A., Bartels, R., Tobey, R. et al. Quasi-phase-matched generation of coherent extreme-ultraviolet light. Nature 421, 51–54 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01222

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