Quasi-supercontinuum source in the extreme ultraviolet using multiple frequency combs from high-harmonic generation

• Published in: Optics express 2017-03, Vol.25 (6), p.6936-6944
• Main Authors: Wünsche, Martin, Fuchs, Silvio, Aull, Stefan, Nathanael, Jan, Möller, Max, Rödel, Christian, Paulus, Gerhard G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Frequency combs; Infrared radiation; INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; Photon counting; Stray light; Supercontinuum sources; Synchrotron radiation
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/OE.25.006936

A quasi-supercontinuum source in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) is demonstrated using a table-top femtosecond laser and a tunable optical parametric amplifier (OPA) as a driver for high-harmonic generation (HHG). The harmonic radiation, which is usually a comb of odd multiples of the fundamental frequency, is generated by near-infrared (NIR) laser pulses from the OPA. A quasi-continuous XUV spectrum in the range of 30 to 100 eV is realized by averaging over multiple harmonic comb spectra with slightly different fundamental frequencies and thus different spectral spacing between the individual harmonics. The driving laser wavelength is swept automatically during an averaging time period. With a total photon flux of 4×10 photons/s in the range of 30 eV to 100 eV and 1×10 photons/s in the range of 100 eV to 200 eV, the resulting quasi-supercontinuum XUV source is suited for applications such as XUV coherence tomography (XCT) or near-edge absorption fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS).