Tunable femtosecond VUV source in the region between 102 nm - 124 nm

Summary form only given. We report on what we believe to be first results of the generation of femtosecond VUV radiation tunable between 102 to 124 nm by two-photon-resonant (Krypton [4p/sup 5/6p(3/2)/sub 2/]) and near-resonant (Argon [3p/sup 5/4p(1/2)/sub 2/]) four-wave difference-frequency mixing (FWDFM) of intense ultrashort ArF pulses and tunable synchronized femtosecond output pulses (signal and idler) of an optical parametric generator. To our knowledge this is the first demonstration of a femtosecond laser system broadly tunable in this spectral region. As the "master laser" we employed a homemade Ti:sapphire oscillator/amplifier system. A second part of the femtosecond fundamental radiation is frequency doubled in a O.5-mm-long, BBO crystal.