Patent ID: 9645470
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: G02B,G02F

Claim:
1. A high harmonic optical generator comprising: a laser arrangement for emitting a beam of polarized radiation at a fundamental frequency, and an optical waveguide having a hollow core for a gaseous harmonic generation medium, the optical waveguide configured to generate high harmonics of the fundamental frequency in the presence of the gaseous harmonic generation medium in the hollow core, the optical waveguide having an optical propagation axis along the hollow core, the laser arrangement is configured to couple the beam of polarized radiation along the propagation axis of the hollow core optical waveguide to provide a beam of optical driving radiation for the high harmonic generation, the optical driving radiation having a plane of polarization that rotates about the propagation axis; wherein the optical waveguide is a circularly birefringent optical waveguide, and wherein the laser arrangement is configured for coupling a single beam of linearly polarized radiation into the optical waveguide.