Recent advances in deep and vacuum-UV harmonic generation with KBBF crystal

Light sources in the deep and vacuum-ultraviolet (DUV and VUV) spectral region are extremely important for many applications, such as 193 nm and even 157 nm photolithography, high-resolution photo emission spectroscopy, precision processing and micro-machining (currently 266 and 193 nm in the future) as well as fabrication of photonic devices (currently 193 and 177.3 nm in the future). Although excimer lasers can emit DUV and VUV coherent lights with a high average output power, compact and efficient solid-state lasers with a NLO crystals in the spectral region are still needed because it has pretty merits including much more narrow bandwidth, better beam quality and easy handling. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.