Abstract: A multi-beam combining apparatus includes a phase shifting section, a superposing section, an observing section and a phase control section. The phase shifting section generates a plurality of phase-shifted laser beams by shifting the phase of each of the plurality of laser beams. The superposing section generates a plurality of superposed laser beam by superposing the reference laser beam and each of the plurality of phase-shifted laser beams. The observing section generates interference pattern data of a spatial interference pattern which appears when observing each of the superposed laser beams. The phase control section carries out a feedback control of the phase shifts in the phase shifting section based on the interference pattern data obtained for every superposed laser beam, and thereby sets the plurality of phase-shifted laser beams to desired states.

Abstract: A multi-beam combining apparatus includes a phase shifting section, a superposing section, an observing section and a phase control section. The phase shifting section generates a plurality of phase-shifted laser beams by shifting the phase of each of the plurality of laser beams. The superposing section generates a plurality of superposed laser beam by superposing the reference laser beam and each of the plurality of phase-shifted laser beams. The observing section generates interference pattern data of a spatial interference pattern which appears when observing each of the superposed laser beams. The phase control section carries out a feedback control of the phase shifts in the phase shifting section based on the interference pattern data obtained for every superposed laser beam, and thereby sets the plurality of phase-shifted laser beams to desired states.

Abstract: The present invention is made to provide an extreme ultraviolet light source target or an X-ray source target having a good operationality. An extreme ultraviolet light source target in accordance with an aspect of the present invention is obtained by including a heavy metal such as tin into a matrix made of a polymeric material such as hydroxylpropylcellulose (HPC). The target can be manufactured by mixing the heavy metal and the polymeric material with a solvent, and evaporating the solvent. Since the target uses the polymeric material as a matrix, the target can be easily deformed to have a desired shape. For this reason, the target can be easily attached to a target holder irrespective of the shape of the holder, resulting in a good operationality of the target. Furthermore, an emission efficiency can be improved by including the heavy metal at a low density.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a solid-state laser module, and so on, having a structure for enabling optical output of high quality to be obtained. The solid-state laser module includes a vacuum container with windows, and a heat sink, a solid-state laser medium, and a pair of transparent members are housed in the vacuum container in an integrally assembled state. The solid-state laser medium and the pair of transparent members respectively have disk shapes, and the pair of transparent members sandwich the solid-state laser medium. The thermal conductivity of each of the pair of transparent members is higher than the thermal conductivity of the solid-state laser medium.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an extreme ultraviolet light source target which can emits extreme ultraviolet light with high emission efficiency. A solid target made of heavy metal or heavy-metal compound and having a density 0.5 to 80% that of the crystal density is used. When the target is irradiated with a laser beam, plasma of the heavy metal contained in the target is generated, and extreme ultraviolet light having a predetermined wavelength which corresponds to the kind of the heavy metal is emitted from the plasma. When the density of the target is made to be smaller than the crystal density as described above, space distribution of the density of the generated plasma can be controlled, and the region in which plasma absorbs energy of the laser beam overlaps the region in which the plasma emits the extreme ultraviolet light. Thus, emission efficiency can be improved, preventing energy loss.

Abstract: The present invention is made to provide an extreme ultraviolet light source target or an X-ray source target having a good operationality. An extreme ultraviolet light source target in accordance with an aspect of the present invention is obtained by including a heavy metal such as tin into a matrix made of a polymeric material such as hydroxylpropylcellulose (HPC). The target can be manufactured by mixing the heavy metal and the polymeric material with a solvent, and evaporating the solvent. Since the target uses the polymeric material as a matrix, the target can be easily deformed to have a desired shape. For this reason, the target can be easily attached to a target holder irrespective of the shape of the holder, resulting in a good operationality of the target. Furthermore, an emission efficiency can be improved by including the heavy metal at a low density.

Abstract: A solid laser module etc. having a structure that enables to obtain a high-quality light output. The solid laser module has a vacuum container with a window, and a heat sink, a solid laser medium, and a pair of transparent members are received in an integrally assembled state in the container. The solid laser medium and the pair of transparent members are each formed in a disc shape, and the solid laser medium is sandwiched between the pair of transparent members. The thermal conductivity of each of the pair of transparent members is higher than the thermal conductivity of the solid laser medium. The heat sink is shaped to simultaneously hold portions of the pair of transparent members that hold the solid laser medium in between. A heat insulation region having a lower thermal conductivity than the solid laser medium is provided between the heat sink and the solid laser medium.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an extreme ultraviolet light source target which can emits extreme ultraviolet light with high emission efficiency. A solid target made of heavy metal or heavy-metal compound and having a density 0.5 to 80% that of the crystal density is used. When the target is irradiated with a laser beam, plasma of the heavy metal contained in the target is generated, and extreme ultraviolet light having a predetermined wavelength which corresponds to the kind of the heavy metal is emitted from the plasma. When the density of the target is made to be smaller than the crystal density as described above, space distribution of the density of the generated plasma can be controlled, and the region in which plasma absorbs energy of the laser beam overlaps the region in which the plasma emits the extreme ultraviolet light. Thus, emission efficiency can be improved, preventing energy loss.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus capable of efficient laser amplification by cooling a semiconductor laser pumped, ytterbium doped YAG crystal to a temperature between 8 K and 230 K.

Abstract: A passive eight-pass solid-state laser amplifier is constructed using a quarter-wave plate (11), a total reflection mirror (12), a polarization beam splitter (5), and a total reflection mirror (6) while input/output faces of a hexagonal zigzag slab solid-state laser medium (15) optically pumped are kept nearly perpendicular to pulsed laser light. Thermal birefringence takes place in the laser medium (15) optically pumped with good symmetry by flash lamps or LDs (9) and is compensated for by a quartz 90.degree. rotator (10). Linearly s-polarized laser light reflected by a polarization beam splitter (3) is output as pulsed laser output light (13) to the outside. Owing to this, saturation laser amplification can be achieved using output laser light from a pulsed laser oscillator of relatively low output, as source light.

Abstract: A sample is placed between a circular polarizer and an analyzer in an optical path between a monochromatic light source and a two-dimensional optical receiver. Parallel beams emitted from the monochromatic light source are converted into circularly polarized light by the circular polarizer. After transmitting the sample, the light is guided to the analyzer. While rotating the analyzer about the axis of the beams, image data are detected by optical receiver at a step of a regular rotation angle, and the detected image data are sampled to be sent to an image processing device in the next stage. On the basis of the image data, an operation is conducted on each pixel to obtain a relative phase difference due to birefringence of the sample, the two-dimensional birefringence distribution including the sign of the relative phase difference, and also the principal axis direction.