Evolution of laser-produced Sn extreme ultraviolet source diameter for high-brightness source

Abstract

We have investigated the effect of irradiation of solid Sn targets with laser pulses of sub-ns duration and sub-mJ energy on the diameter of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emitting region and source conversion efficiency. It was found that an in-band EUV source diameter as low as 18 μm was produced due to the short scale length of a plasma produced by a sub-ns laser. Most of the EUV emission occurs in a narrow region with a plasma density close to the critical density value. Such EUV sources are suitable for high brightness and high repetition rate metrology applications.