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Abstract:
Four different schemes for the generation of femtosecond input pulses for ArF amplifiers are described. Pulse energies of 100 nJ were obtained with phase-matched frequency mixing of a Raman-shifted frequency-doubled pulse derived from a 537-nm femtosecond dye-laser pulse. Excellent spatial, spectral, and amplitude stability was obtained when a broadband, nanosecond dye laser at 690 nm was used as a Raman seed pulse. Preliminary amplification experiments resulted in 0.5-mJ ArF output pulses of 340 fsec.