Efficient (~10$%$) Generation of Vacuum Ultraviolet Femtosecond Pulses via Four-Wave Mixing in Hollow-Core Fibers

We report the generation of the 5th harmonic of Ti:sapphire, at 160 nm, with more than 4~μJ of pulse energy, and a pulse length of 37 fs with a 1 kHz repetition rate. The VUV pulses are produced using Four-Wave Difference Frequency Mixing (FWDFM) in a helium-filled stretched Hollow-Core Fiber (HCF), driven by a pump at 267 nm and seeded at 800 nm. Guided by simulations using Luna.jl, we are able to optimize the process carefully. The result is a conversion efficiency of ~10$%$ from the 267 nm pump beam, rivaling the efficient optical mixing schemes in nonlinear crystals.