Generation and amplification of ultraviolet light pulses by means of parametric four-wave interactions in transparent solid-state media

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate efficient generation of the ultrashort ultraviolet light pulses by means of phase‐matched four‐wave optical parametric amplification and four‐wave difference frequency mixing in wide bandgap solids with cubic nonlinearity. Broadband four‐wave optical parametric amplification around 330 nm is achieved in optically isotropic fused silica and CaF2 crystals, suggesting amplification bandwidth of ∼20 nm that is able supporting ultraviolet light pulses as short as 7.5 fs (in the transform limit). Efficient generation of 3‐rd (351 nm), 5‐th (211 nm), and 6‐th (176 nm) harmonics with 1‐ps pulses of the Nd:glass laser is experimentally demonstrated through non‐collinearly phase‐matched four‐wave difference‐frequency mixing in fused silica, CaF2 and MgF2 crystals.