Femtosecond solid state light sources tunable around 193 nm

Compact all-solid state laser sources are developed for femtosecond pulse generation tunable around 193 nm utilizing high peak power Ti:sapphire oscillator/amplifier systems and phase matched sequential sum frequency conversion in three (beta) -barium-borate (BBO) crystals arranged in different schemes. Using thin crystals and a delay line for optimization of the temporal overlap of the interacting pulses in the last conversion stage 190 fs optical pulses with pulse energies of more than 2 (mu) J at 193 nm at 20 Hz repetition rate and 170 fs pulses with pulse energies of up to 4 (mu) J at 200 nm (0.8 (mu) J at 193 nm) for 1 kHz repetition rate are produced with excellent spectral, temporal, and spatial stability.