Investigation of the generation of λ = 118.2 nm coherent radiation in rare gases

The results are presented of theoretical and experimental investigations of frequency tripling of third harmonic radiation from a YAG:Nd³⁺ laser. The conversion efficiency was found to be limited by the Keneffect nonlinearity. The cubic susceptibility and the Kerr nonlinearity were measured in xenon. A conversion efficiency of 3.1×10^–3 was obtained in an Xe–Ar mixture. Numerical calculations were performed on the optimization of this process. The maximum conversion was found to have a limiting value of ~3 % .