Observation of saturable absorption of Sn metal film with intense EUV laser pulse

H. Yoneda; Y. Inubushi; F. Sato; S. Morimoto; T. Kumagaya; M. Nagasono; A. Higashiya; M. Yabashi; T. Ishikawa; H. Ohashi; H. Kimura; T. Togashi; R. Kodama

doi:10.1117/12.850908

11 November 2009 Observation of saturable absorption of Sn metal film with intense EUV laser pulse

H. Yoneda, Y. Inubushi, F. Sato, S. Morimoto, T. Kumagaya, M. Nagasono, A. Higashiya, M. Yabashi, T. Ishikawa, H. Ohashi, H. Kimura, T. Togashi, R. Kodama

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7501, International Conference on Ultrafast and Nonlinear Optics 2009; 75010H (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.850908
Event: Ultrafast Nonlinear Optics 2009, 2009, Bourgas, Bulgaria

Abstract

In this work we report observation of ultra-fast switching of vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) light caused by saturable absorption by a solid metal foil. A sub-picosecond VUV pulse from a free-electron laser located in SPring-8 is focused on a metal target and transmission is measured as a function of input energy, thickness of the absorbing layer, and VUV laser wavelength. As is well known, metals have a strong linear free electron response associated with the plasma oscillation and collisional absorption (high-frequency resistivity). Due to the plasma screening and strong absorption, it is difficult to use bulk metals for optical components. However, above the plasma frequency as in our experiments, a metal can transmit light and shows phenomena related to the band gap structure, similar to the optical properties observed in transparent materials for visible and infrared light. We observe a strong gating of Sn transmission at energy fluences above 6J/cm² at wavelength of 51nm. The ratio of the transmission at high intensity to low intensity is typically greater than 100:1. The estimated saturated transmittance is about 0.25. The mechanism of the switching phenomena is partially explained by the shift of Sn N shell band edge, however, more details should be investigated with more exact physical models and precise measurements. We think this is the first observation of such a strong nonlinear phenomena for VUV light and this result will promote the development of new nonlinear photonic devices such as auto-correlator and pulse slicer for the VUV region.

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H. Yoneda, Y. Inubushi, F. Sato, S. Morimoto, T. Kumagaya, M. Nagasono, A. Higashiya, M. Yabashi, T. Ishikawa, H. Ohashi, H. Kimura, T. Togashi, and R. Kodama "Observation of saturable absorption of Sn metal film with intense EUV laser pulse", Proc. SPIE 7501, International Conference on Ultrafast and Nonlinear Optics 2009, 75010H (11 November 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.850908

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