Triple resonant four-wavemixing boosts the yield of continuous coherent VUV generation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a highly efficient method for generating continuous VUV radiation at 121 nm using triple resonant four-wave mixing, significantly improving yield for applications in antimatter research and quantum information.

Contribution

It introduces a novel triple resonant four-wave mixing technique with optimized detunings, achieving a three-order-of-magnitude increase in VUV generation efficiency.

Findings

Achieved up to 6 microwatts of VUV radiation at 121 nm.

Efficiency increased by three orders of magnitude.

Potential applications in antimatter and quantum technologies.

Abstract

Continuous-wave coherent radiation in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV)wavelength region at 121 nm will be essential for future laser-cooling of trapped antihydrogen [1]. Cold antihydrogen will enable both tests of the fundamental symmetry between matter and antimatter at unprecedented experimental precision [2] and also experiments in antimatter gravity [3]. Another fascinating application of narrowband continuous laser radiation in the VUV is quantum information processing using single trapped ions in Rydberg-states [4, 5]. Here we describe highly efficient continuous four-wave mixing in the VUV by using three different fundamental wavelengths with a sophisticated choice of detunings to resonances of the nonlinear medium. Up to 6 microwatts of vacuum ultraviolet radiation at 121 nm can be generated which corresponds to an increase of three orders of magnitude in efficiency.