Phase-matched harmonic generation in gas-filled waveguides in the vicinity of a multiphoton resonance

We investigate phase-matched harmonic generation of ultrashort (picosecond) laser pulses, tuned in the vicinity of a five-photon resonance in argon, confined in a hollow-core optical waveguide. This combines resonance enhancements and tight spatial confinement to increase the conversion efficiency toward vacuum-ultraviolet radiation pulses. We demonstrate that appropriate choice of the gas pressure maintains optimal phase-matching conditions also in the presence of inevitable dynamic level shifts at high intensities. Moreover, we reveal the considerable contribution of higher-order transversal waveguide modes to the total conversion efficiency and investigate the role of cascading frequency conversion processes. Finally, we study additional signal enhancements by buffer gas admixtures. The experimental data are compared with numerical simulations, taking higher transversal waveguide modes and cascade frequency conversion into account, identifying also the potential of quasi-phase matching by polarization mode beating. Our investigations show that proper choice of experimental parameters enables significant resonance enhancements in the conversion efficiency of harmonic generation. (c) 2018 Optical Society of America