Wavelength-tunable optical mixing experiments between 208 nm and 259 nm

Sum-frequency generation experiments in which the second harmonics of rhodamine and coumarin dye lasers are upconverted to the 208-234 nm by mixing with 1064 nm are described. The dye lasers were pumped by the second and third harmonics of a repetitively pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Both temperature-tuned and angle-tuned phase matching techniques were used with mixer crystals of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP) and potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP). Tunable light from 246 nm to 259 nm also was generated by mixing the output of a coumarin laser with the 532-nm harmonic of the Nd:YAG laser. Peak powers between about 500 W and 10 kW were obtained, and both theoretical and experimental tuning curves have been determined for these processes. Limitations imposed by mode beating effects in the Nd:YAG laser and by the relatively broad linewidth of the dye lasers are discussed.