title: Bright spatially coherent wavelength-tunable deep-UV laser source using an Ar-filled photonic crystal fiber.
abstract: We report on the spectral broadening of ~1 μJ 30 fs pulses propagating in an Ar-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. In contrast with supercontinuum generation in a solid-core photonic crystal fiber, the absence of Raman and unique pressure-controlled dispersion results in efficient emission of dispersive waves in the deep-UV region. The UV light emerges in the single-lobed fundamental mode and is tunable from 200 to 320 nm by varying the pulse energy and gas pressure. The setup is extremely simple, involving <1 m of a gas-filled photonic crystal fiber, and the UV signal is stable and bright, with experimental IR to deep-UV conversion efficiencies as high as 8%. The source is of immediate interest in applications demanding high spatial coherence, such as laser lithography or confocal microscopy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.
authors.forename: N Y
authors.initials: NY
authors.lastname: Joly
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nold
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hölzer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nazarkin
authors.forename: G K L
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Biancalana
authors.forename: P St J
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Russell