We present a laser architecture to obtain continuouswave (CW) light sources at the 589 nm sodium D2 line. A 808 nm diode-pumped a Nd:YLiF 4 (Nd:YLF) crystal emitting at 1053 nm. A part of the pump power was then absorbed by the Nd:YLF crystal. The remaining was used to pump a Nd:YAG crystal emitting at 1338 nm. Intracavity sum-frequency mixing at 1053 and 1338 nm was then realized in a LiB 3 O 5 (LBO) crystal to reach the yellow-orange radiation. We obtained a CW output power of 235 mW at 589 nm with a pump laser diode emitting 17.8 W at 808 nm. Stability of the yellow-orange output power around the 235 mW operation point

Efficient and compact blue laser output at 468 nm is generated by intracavity frequency doubling of a continuouswave (CW) diode‐pumped Nd:CNGG laser at 935 nm. With 17.8 W of diode pump power and the frequency‐doubling crystal BiB3O6 (BiBO), a maximum output power of 490 mW in the blue spectral range at 468 nm has been achieved, corresponding to an optical‐to‐optical conversion efficiency of 2.8%; the output power stability over 4 h is better than 2.6%. To the best of our knowledge, this is first work on intracavity frequency doubling of a diode pumped Nd:CNGG laser at 935 nm. (© 2011 by Astro Ltd., Published exclusively by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA) (© 2011 by Astro Ltd., Published exclusively by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA)

Phenyl acetic acid, a metabolite of 2—phenyl ethylamine, acts as a neuromodulator in the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway neuromodulator stimulating the release of dopamine. The evaluation of phenyl acetic acid concentration in the biological fluid reflects phenyl ethylamine levels thus allowing the assessment of the modulatory role of this endogenous substance. Changes in biological fluids levels of 2—phenylethylamine and/or in its metabolite have been reported in affective disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia. Recently, the occurrence of the “attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome” has been frequently reported in childhood population and involvement of dopaminergic dysfunction in this disease has been suspected. A fast, reliable and reproducible method for the determination of phenyl acetic acid in human blood, is therefore needed in order to have a screening tool for monitoring both healthy childhood population and suspected “attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome” patients. The gas chromatographicmass spectrometric method here described makes use of a deuterated internal standard in order to overcome problems related to the lack of reproducibility often encountered when a derivatization step is performed.

In this paper we describe a low debris laser plasma source with cryogenic CO 2 target developed in our institute, which can emit strong line radiation in EUV region even in water window. In particular the source is a very important candidate radiation source for the future EUV lithography production line.

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