Influence of the 6^1S_0-6^3P_1 Resonance on Continuous Lyman-alpha Generation in Mercury

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the 6^1S_0-6^3P_1 resonance in mercury affects continuous Lyman-alpha generation at 122 nm, demonstrating a 4.5-fold efficiency improvement through resonance effects on nonlinear processes.

Contribution

It provides experimental insights into the resonance's impact on phase matching, absorption, and nonlinear yield in mercury vapor for Lyman-alpha generation.

Findings

Resonance enhances Lyman-alpha generation efficiency by 4.5 times

Resonance influences phase matching and absorption in mercury vapor

Experimental data elucidate resonance effects on nonlinear optical processes

Abstract

Continuous coherent radiation in the vacuum-ultraviolet at 122 nm (Lyman-alpha) can be generated using sum-frequency mixing of three fundamental laser beams in mercury vapour. One of the fundamental beams is at 254 nm wavelength, which is close to the 6^1S_0-6^3P_1 resonance in mercury. Experiments have been performed to investigate the effect of this one-photon resonance on phasematching, absorption and the nonlinear yield. The efficiency of continuous Lyman-alpha generation has been improved by a factor of 4.5.