Generation of sub-50-fs vacuum ultraviolet pulses by four-wave mixing in argon

We report on the generation of femtosecond pulses at 160 nm with energies up to 240 nJ at 1 kHz repetition rate and sub-50-fs pulse duration. This pulse energy is a 1-order-of-magnitude improvement compared with previous sub-100-fs sources in this wavelength range. The pulses are generated by four-wave difference-frequency mixing process between the fundamental of a Ti:sapphire laser and its third harmonic in argon. Pulse duration measurements are achieved by pump-probe ionization of Xe gas providing the cross correlation between the fifth harmonic and the fundamental. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America