Efficient vacuum-ultraviolet generation by anti-Stokes Raman scattering using a cryogenic Raman cell

We have investigated the increase of efficiency for high-order anti-Stokes Raman scattering using a cryogenic Raman cell. By cooling the cell to liquid-nitrogen temperature, output energies of the 9th-order anti-Stokes wave at 133 nm in normal hydrogen were enhanced by a factor of 10, and the 11th-order anti-Stokes line at 141 nm in normal deuterium appeared, while no output was observed at room temperature. No output energy enhancement, however, was obtained using cooled para-hydrogen as a result of multiple rotational Raman scattering. For long-term operation, the output window surface of the Raman cell was kept at above 200 K in order to protect it from deposition, the absorption of which is detrimental to VUV transmission.