ABSTRACT
We present a method for the optimization of high-order harmonic generation based on wave-front correction of the driving laser beam. The technique exploits wave-front adaptive control by means of a deformable mirror, governed by an optimization procedure.
ABSTRACT
A grazing-incidence spectrometer-monochromator for diagnostics and application of the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) and soft-x-ray high-order harmonics generated by the interaction between a few-optical-cycle laser pulse and a gas jet has been fabricated. We address the necessity of high-resolution spectral and spatial analyses of the high-order harmonics as well as their use as short EUV backlighters in pump-probe experiments. The spectrometer that we present uses a variable-line-spaced flat grating illuminated in the converging light coming from a toroidal mirror. The spectrum is stigmatic, and the focal surface is almost flat in a wide spectral region. The detector is a microchannel plate intensifier with a phosphor screen optically coupled to a CCD camera; it can be moved by means of a linear drive to acquire different portions of the spectrum in the 5-75-nm region. The resolution is almost limited by the pixel size of the detector. We apply the same optical scheme to achieve a constant-deviation-angle monochromator by substituting an exit slit for the detector block: The rotation of the grating gives the spectral scanning. A monochromator for the 5-50 nm spectral region is achieved.
ABSTRACT
The design of a stigmatic spectroscopic system for diagnostics of laser-produced plasmas in the 2.5-40-nm region is presented. The system consists of a grazing-incidence toroidal mirror that focuses the radiation emitted by a laser-produced plasma onto the entrance slit of a spectrograph. The latter has a grazing-incidence spherical variable-line-spaced grating with flat-field properties coupled to a spherical focusing mirror that compensates for the astigmatism. The mirror is crossed with respect to the grating; i.e., it is mounted with its tangential plane coincident with the equatorial plane of the grating. The spectrum is acquired by an extreme-UV- (EUV-) enhanced CCD detector with high quantum efficiency. This stigmatic design also has spectral and spatial resolution capability for extended sources: The spectral resolution is also preserved for off-plane points, whereas the spatial resolution decreases for points far from the optical axis. The expected performance is presented and compared with that of a stigmatic design with a plane variable-line-spaced grating illuminated in converging light.
