EUV – Soft X-rays, Wavelength-Tuned for Discovery
Tune the wavelength. Discover what’s next. Published in Communications Physics , a Nature Portfolio journal Tuneable EUV – Soft X-rays A different wavelength can reveal a different story. A new tabletop technique gives researchers the freedom to explore those stories with bright, laser-like extreme-ultraviolet and soft-X-ray light whose wavelengths can be tuned continuously. Developed by researchers at TU Wien, the University of California San Diego and Few-Cycle Inc. , it combines adjustable wavelengths with high brightness and sharply defined spectral lines. The technique relies on high-order harmonic generation, or HHG , which turns intense laser pulses into much shorter-wavelength light. Usually, this produces a series of separate spectral peaks. Between them are gaps – and an experiment’s most useful wavelength may land in one. By carefully shaping the driving laser pulses through interactions with gases and a crystal, the team makes those peak...
