Subpicosecond, High-Brightness Excimer Laser Systems

摘要

Subpicosecond, high-brightness excimer laser systems are being used to explore the interaction of intense coherent ultraviolet radiation with matter. Applications of current systems include generation of picosecond x-ray pulses, investigation of possible x-ray laser pumping schemes, studies of multiphoton phenomena in atomic species, and time-resolved photochemistry. These systems, based on the amplification of subpicosecond pulses in small aperture (/approximately/1 cm sup 2 ) XeCl or KrF amplifiers, deliver focal spot intensities of /approximately/10 sup 17 W/cm sup 2 . Scaling to higher intensities, however, will require an additional large aperture amplifier which preserves near-diffraction-limited beam quality and subpicosecond pulse duration. We describe here both a small aperture KrF system which routinely provides intensities >10 sup 17 W/cm sup 2 to several experiments, and a large aperture XeCl system designed to deliver /approximately/1 J subpicosecond pulses and yield intensities on target in excess of 10 sup 19 W/cm sup 2 . We also discuss the effects of two-photon absorption on large-aperture, high-brightness excimer lasers. 4 refs., 2 figs. (ERA citation 13:057206)