Tunable VUV radiation generated by two-photon resonant frequency mixing in xenon

Efficient two-photon resonant frequency conversion of powerful pulsed dye laser radiation generates in Xe intense VUV light at
\omega_{VUV} = 2\omega_{UV} - \omega_{D}
. The frequency ω
UV
is tuned to the 5p-6p [
\frac{5}{2},2
] two-photon resonance (
\lambda_{UV} = 255.9
nm). For dye laser radiation ω
D
at
\lambda_{D} = 300-760
nm ω
VUV
is tunable in the spectral range of
\lambda_{VUV} = 155-220
nm. The resonantly enhanced conversion efficiency is typically 0.05-0.2 percent; the generated VUV pulse power
P_{VUV} = 0.5-1
kW. The experimental results provide detailed information on conversion limiting saturation phenomena and their dependence on the input power and the detuning of ω
UV
from the two-photon resonance.