A nonlinear crystal including stacked Strontium tetraborate SrB.sub.4O.sub.7 (SBO) crystal plates that are cooperatively configured to create a periodic structure for quasi-phase-matching (QPM) is used in the final frequency converting stage of a laser assembly to generate laser output light having a wavelength in the range of 125 nm to 183 nm. One or more fundamental light beams having fundamental wavelengths between 1 and 1.1 μm are doubled and/or summed using multiple intermediate frequency conversion stages to generate one or more intermediate light beam frequencies (e.g., second through eighth harmonics, or sums thereof), and then the final frequency converting stage utilizes the nonlinear crystal to either double a single intermediate light beam frequency or to sum two intermediate light beam frequencies to generate the desired laser output light at high power and photon energy levels. A method and inspection system incorporating the laser assembly is also described.

The system and method of producing a first path comprising a pulse stretcher for a mid-wave infrared (MWIR) signal, an optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) amplifier, and a MWIR compressor for producing a first beam in a MWIR portion of the spectrum and a second path comprising a pulse stretcher for a long wave infrared (LWIR) signal, an OPCPA amplifier, and a LWIR compressor for producing a second beam in a LWIR portion of the spectrum. Each beam, on its own, is configured to produce laser-matter interactions at long range (100s of meters), having nonlinear effects and favoring supercontinuum generation spanning multiple octaves, that is temporally and spatially overlapped with the fundamental laser beam.

Disclosed in the present invention is a nonlinear optical crystal. The chemical formula of the nonlinear optical crystal is MHgGeSe.sub.4, M being selected from Ba or Sr. The nonlinear optical crystal has no symmetrical center, belongs to an orthorhombic crystal system, and has a space group Ama2. The nonlinear optical crystal is an infrared nonlinear optical crystal, and has the advantages of great nonlinear optical effect, wide light transmitting band, high hardness, good mechanical properties, breakage resistance, deliquescence resistance, easiness in processing and preserving, etc. Also disclosed in the present invention are a method for preparing the nonlinear optical crystal and application thereof.

An optical assembly for the illumination and hyperspectral evaluation of an object, having a light source or an optical element at which a light source radiates, wherein the light source or the optical element is designed to divide pairs of unambiguously assignable photons into a first light beam and a second light beam so that the first light beam hits a first detector system and the second light beam is directed at an object and light radiation coming from the object is directed at an optical element which spectrally decomposes light radiation and, from the optical element spectrally decomposing said light radiation, is directed at a second detector system. The first light beam can also be directed at a spectrally decomposing optical element and, from there, at a first detector system, and the light radiation coming from the object can be directed directly at the second detector system. The first detector system is designed to perform a spatially resolved sensing of the first light beam, and the first detector system or the second detector system is designed to perform a spectrally resolved sensing of the second light beam. The detector systems are connected to an electronic evaluation unit, by means of which the measurement signals captured with spatial and spectral resolution are associated. The first and second light beams are spectrally, spatially and temporally correlated.

Provided is an optical element including: a main body which is formed of a medium capable of transmitting first light and second light having a wavelength longer than that of the first light, in which the main body includes an incident region into which the first light and the second light are incident, in which a gap which is inclined with respect to the incident region and in which a medium having a refractive index with respect to the first light and the second light lower than that of the main body is disposed is provided inside the main body, and in which a gap width from an interface bordering the main body and the gap is larger than a penetration length of an evanescent wave of the first light at the interface and is smaller than a penetration length of an evanescent wave of the second light at the interface.

The present invention relates to an orthogonal-phase compound and its nonlinear optical (NLO) crystal of BaGa.sub.7Se.sub.7, its producing method and uses thereof. Polycrystalline orthogonal-phase BaGa.sub.4Se.sub.7 was prepared by a high-temperature solid-phase reaction in a sealed silica tube. Large size single crystals of orthogonal-phase BaGa.sub.4Se.sub.7 could be prepared by the flux method or Bridgman method. BaGa.sub.4Se.sub.7 crystallizes in the point group mm2. Orthogonal-phase BaGa.sub.4Se.sub.7 has a powder second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency of about 5 times that of AgGaS.sub.2 and is phase-matchable. The orthogonal-phase BaGa.sub.4Se.sub.7 is non-hygroscopic and has good mechanical properties, which makes it easy to cut, polish, and coat by normal processing. The orthogonal-phase BaGa.sub.4Se.sub.7 crystal has never been cracked during cutting and polishing. The orthogonal-phase compound and NLO crystal of BaGa.sub.4Se.sub.7 can be used as NLO devices.

Strontium tetraborate is used as an optical coating material for optical components utilized in semiconductor inspection and metrology systems to take advantage of its high refractive indices, high optical damage threshold and high microhardness in comparison to conventional optical materials. At least one layer of strontium tetraborate is formed on the light receiving surface of an optical component's substrate such that its thickness serves to increase or decrease the reflectance of the optical component. One or multiple additional coating layers may be placed on top of or below the strontium tetraborate layer, with the additional coating layers consisting of conventional optical materials. The thicknesses of the additional layers may be selected to achieve a desired reflectance of the optical component at specific wavelengths. The coated optical component is used in an illumination source or optical system utilized in a semiconductor inspection system, a metrology system or a lithography system.

A dispersion measurement apparatus includes a pulse forming unit, a correlation optical system, a photodetection unit, and an operation unit. The pulse forming unit forms a light pulse train including a plurality of light pulses having time differences and center wavelengths different from each other from a measurement target light pulse output from a pulsed laser light source. The correlation optical system receives the light pulse train output from the pulse forming unit and outputs correlation light including a cross-correlation or an autocorrelation of the light pulse train. The photodetection unit detects a temporal waveform of the correlation light output from the correlation optical system. The operation unit estimates a wavelength dispersion amount of the pulsed laser light source based on a feature value of the temporal waveform of the correlation light.

According to the present invention, a pulsed laser output section outputs a laser beam having a predetermined wavelength as first pulses. An optical path determining section receives the first pulses and determines one or more among two or more optical paths for each of the first pulses for output. A wavelength changing section receives light beams travelling, respectively, through the two or more optical paths and, when the power of the traveling light beams exceeds a threshold value, changes the light beams to have their respective different wavelengths for output. A multiplexer multiplexes outputs from the wavelength changing section. The optical path determining section allows for change in the power ratio between a first power of the light beam traveling through one of two among the two or more optical paths and a second power of the light beam traveling through the other of the two optical paths.

A nonlinear crystal comprising a first end face and an opposing second end face is described. The first and second end faces are separated along an optical axis of the nonlinear crystal by a length in the range of 0.25 mm and 2 mm. Although the length of the nonlinear crystal results in a reduction in the nonlinear effects induced on an optical field propagating through the crystal it also provides for reduced deviation experienced by the generated optical field when the nonlinear crystal is rotated. Therefore, when the nonlinear crystals are incorporated within an enhancement cavity their reduced length allows for the deviation of the output field to be minimised by servo control electronics arranged to adjust a single cavity mirror. This significantly reduces the complexity, and thus expensive of the servo control electronics when compared to those employed with the prior art enhancement cavities.