Four-wave Sum Frequency Mixing Research Articles

Generation of cw VUV coherent radiation by four-wave sum frequency mixing in Sr vapor

The production of cw VUV coherent radiation by four-wave sum frequency generation in Sr vapor is reported. Significant enhancement of the nonlinearity at the output frequency is obtained upon application of large (∼50 kG) magnetic fields. Total power of 10−11 W (∼107 photons/sec) at 1700 Å in a bandwidth of approximately 6 GHz for input powers of less than 1 W was obtained.

Enhanced production of coherent vuv radiation by four-wave mixing in Sr vapor

Significant enhancement of the unsaturated conversion efficiencies of four-wave sum frequency mixing processes involving autoionizing states in Sr vapor is obtained by utilizing the 5s7s 1S0 two-photon channel and phase matching by frequency adjustment. Extrapolation to low power levels indicates that production of cw vuv radiation may be possible. A saturation effect arising from depletion of one of the fundamental beams by two-photon absorption is observed.