Sum-frequency generation of femtosecond pulses in CsLiB/sub 6/O/sub 10/ down to 175 nm

Summary form only given. Recently the newly discovered nonlinear optical crystal CsLiB/sub 6/O/sub 12/ (CLBO), was shown to be phase-matchable for sum-frequency generation (SFG) down to 185 nm using nanosecond laser pulses. The reported absorption edge of 180 nm measured with a 4-mm thick sample, is longer than the 160-nm edge of LiB/sub 3/O/sub 5/ (LBO). The advantages of CLBO over LBO for VUV light generation are the larger birefringence allowing more powerful initial pulses to be mixed and the crystal symmetry which leads to maximized nonlinearity (sine-dependence) in the 90/spl deg/-limit as opposed to vanishing nonlinearity (cos/spl theta/-dependence) in LBO. Here we present for the first time to our knowledge SFG results with CLBO in the femtosecond regime.