A coherent continuous-wave Lyman-alpha source based on four-wave sum-frequency mixing in mercury vapor has been realized with solid-state lasers. The third-order nonlinear susceptibility is enhanced by the 6(1)S - 7(1)S two-photon resonance and the near 6(1)S-6(3)P one-photon resonance. The phase matching curve for this four-wave mixing scheme is observed for the first time. In addition we investigate the two-photon enhancement of the Lyman-alpha yield and observe that the maxima of Lyman-alpha generation are shifted compared to the two-photon resonances of the different isotopes.

A high-power continuous-wave coherent light source at 253.7 nm is described. It is based on a solid-state Yb:YAG disk laser with two successive frequency doubling stages and is capable of generating stable output powers of up to 750 mW. Spectroscopy of the 6 (1)S(0)-6 (3)P(1) transition of mercury has been demonstrated.

Efficient continuous-wave four-wave mixing by using three different fundamental wavelengths with individual detunings to resonances of the nonlinear medium is shown. Up to 6 μW of vacuum ultraviolet light at 121 nm can be generated, which corresponds to an increase of three orders of magnitude in efficiency. This opens the field of quantum information processing by Rydberg entanglement of trapped ions.

A high-power continuous-wave coherent light source at 545.5nm is described. We use 8.3W from a solid-state ytterbium-doped single-mode fiber oscillator/amplifier system as input into an external frequency doubling stage. This system produces up to 4.1W of stable green single-frequency laser radiation. We characterize the light source by performing absorption spectroscopy on iodine across the full tuning range of the fiber laser and saturation spectroscopy on one strong iodine line of the doppler-broadened spectrum.