Abstract

A new solid-state laser system producing 1.0 W of average power at 196.3 nm with a 5-kHz pulse-repetition rate has been developed. The system is based on sum-frequency mixing of the third harmonic of a Nd:YLF MOPA with the near-IR output of a Ti:sapphire laser, followed by subsequent mixing with the residual 1-µm output from the MOPA. Cesium lithium borate (CLBO) is employed for each sum-frequency-mixing stage. The demonstrated power is, to our knowledge, more than ten times higher than that obtained from any other reported all-solid-state laser source targeted below 200 nm.

© 1999 Optical Society of America