Application of a phase-conjugate Brillouin mirror to generation of high-quality variable-duration KrF pulses

Phase conjugation by Brillouin scattering in SF₆ gas has been implemented on a two-pass KrF amplifier to provide near-diffraction-limited output pulses having a very low background level of amplified spontaneous emission. The pulse duration is variable between 1 and 10 ns by simply attenuating the input pulse. These pulses have also been used for the generation of much shorter duration pulses by truncated Brillouin scattering at the surface of cyclohexane