The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 25, 2003
Filed:
Jun. 20, 2001
Andrew J. Merriam, San Francisco, CA (US);
James J. Jacob, Aptos, CA (US);
Actinix, Soquel, CA (US);
Abstract
A nonlinear optical mixer produces coherent vacuum ultraviolet radiation. A cell contains a gas mixture of xenon and a phase-matching gas. A pump laser beam selectively excites the two-photon transition in the xenon gas. A mixing laser beam is also directed towards the gas mixture. Coherent vacuum ultraviolet radiation is produced by four wave mixing of the pump and mixing laser beams. The phase-matching gas, for example mercury vapor, is used to achieve phase matching of the four wave mixing. The coherent vacuum ultraviolet radiation preferably has a wavelength of approximately 157.6 nm (the molecular fluorine line) or 121.6 nm (the Lyman-&agr; hydrogen line). In a preferred embodiment, the two laser beams are loosely-focused.