Wavelength and bandwidth monitor for excimer or molecular fluorine laser

US6717973B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Lambda Physik AG · DE

Inventors

• Dirk Basting · Fort Lauderdale, US
• Sergei V. Govorkov · Mountain View, US
• Juergen Kleinschmidt · Oettingen, DE
• Peter Lokai · Oettingen, DE
• Uwe Stamm · Göttingen, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 13, 2001
• Grant date: Apr 6, 2004
• Expiry date: Nov 23, 2021

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01S3/2258
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A F2-laser includes a discharge chamber filled with a gas mixture including molecular fluorine for generating a spectral emission in a wavelength range between 157 nm and 158 nm including a primary line and a secondary line, multiple electrodes coupled with a power supply circuit for producing a pulsed discharge to energize the molecular fluorine, a resonator including the discharge chamber and an interferometric device for generating a laser beam having a bandwidth of less than 1 pm, and a wavelength monitor coupled in a feedback loop with a processor for monitoring a spectral distribution of the laser beam. The processor controls an interferometric spectrum of the interferometric device based on the monitored spectral distribution such that sidebands within the spectral distribution are substantially minimized.