Resonator arrangement for bandwidth control

A line-narrowed excimer or molecular fluorine laser system, comprising:

• a discharge chamber filled with a gas mixture at least including molecular fluorine and a buffer gas;
• a plurality of electrodes within the discharge chamber connected to a discharge circuit for energizing the gas mixture;
• a resonator including a pair of resonator reflecting surfaces disposed on either side of the discharge chamber for generating a laser beam;
• and
• a third reflecting surface disposed between the pair of resonator reflector surfaces, the third reflecting surface being deformable such that a surface contour of the third reflecting surface can be adjusted to control the bandwidth of the laser beam.

A line-narrowed excimer or molecular fluorine laser system, comprising:

• a discharge chamber filled with a gas mixture at least including molecular fluorine and a buffer gas;
• a plurality of electrodes within the discharge chamber connected to a discharge circuit for energizing the gas mixture;
• a resonator including a pair of resonator reflecting surfaces disposed on either side of the discharge chamber for generating a laser beam, said resonator further including a third reflecting surface disposed between the pair of resonator reflecting surfaces and having a surface contour which is deformable in order to control the bandwidth of the laser beam;
• a line-narrowing/selection unit within the resonator for narrowing the bandwidth of the laser beam;
• and
• a spectrometer for measuring the bandwidth of said laser beam.

A line-narrowed excimer or molecular fluorine laser system, comprising:

• a discharge chamber filled with a gas mixture at least including molecular fluorine and a buffer gas;
• a plurality of electrodes within the discharge chamber connected to a discharge circuit for energizing the gas mixture;
• a resonator including a pair of resonator reflecting surfaces disposed on either side of the discharge chamber for generating a laser beam, said resonator further including a third reflecting surface disposed between the pair of resonator reflecting surfaces and having a surface contour which is deformable;
• a line-narrowing/selection unit within the resonator for narrowing the bandwidth of the laser beam;
• and
• a detector for detecting at least one parameter of the laser system including the bandwidth of the laser beam;
• and
• a processor for receiving a signal indicative of said at least one laser system parameter from said detector and controlling a surface contour of said deformable third reflecting surface in a feedback arrangement in order to control at least the bandwidth of the laser beam.

A line-narrowed excimer or molecular fluorine laser system, comprising:

• a discharge chamber filled with a gas mixture at least including molecular fluorine and a buffer gas;
• a plurality of electrodes within the discharge chamber connected to a discharge circuit for energizing the gas mixture;
• a resonator including a pair of resonator reflecting surfaces disposed on either side of the discharge chamber for generating a laser beam, said resonator further including a third reflecting surface disposed between the pair of resonator reflecting surfaces and having a surface contour that can be modified to control the bandwidth of the laser beam;
• a line-narrowing/selection unit within the resonator for narrowing the bandwidth of the laser beam, and
• wherein said line-narrowing/selection unit includes a dispersive element, and wherein said deformable third reflecting surface is disposed just before said dispersive element.

A method of adjusting the bandwidth of a line-narrowed excimer or molecular fluorine laser including a discharge chamber having a gas mixture and a plurality of electrodes therein within a resonator for generating a laser beam, the resonator including a pair of resonator reflectors disposed on either side of the discharge chamber for generating a laser beam and a deformable third reflecting surface disposed between a pair of resonator reflectors, comprising the operations:

• applying electrical pulses to the plurality of electrodes within said discharge chamber for energizing the gas mixture therein;
• measuring a bandwidth of the laser beam;
• and
• adjusting a surface contour of said deformable third reflecting surface for adjusting the bandwidth of the laser beam based on the measured bandwidth.

An excimer or molecular fluorine laser, comprising:

• a discharge chamber filled with a gas mixture;
• a plurality of electrodes in the discharge chamber connected to a pulse power circuit for energizing the gas mixture;
• and
• a resonator for generating a laser beam, including one or more line-narrowing/selection optics, a pair of resonator reflectors and a deformable third reflecting surface disposed between the pair of resonator reflectors having an adjustable surface contour for matching the wavefront of the beam to reduce the bandwidth narrowed/selected by the line-narrowing/selection unit.

A resonator for an excimer or molecular fluorine laser system, comprising:

• a discharge chamber for filling with a gas mixture;
• a plurality of electrodes within the discharge chamber for connecting to a discharge circuit for energizing the gas mixture;
• a pair of resonator reflectors for generating a laser beam;
• and
• a bi-directional bandwidth controlled folding mirror assembly disposed between the pair of resonator reflectors, the mirror assembly including:
• a folding mirror;
• a coupling plate coupling with the mirror;
• an adjustment spindle penetrating through a cavity defined in the coupling plate, and
• wherein screwing the adjustment spindle in a first direction increases a concavity of a surface contour of the folding mirror, and screwing the adjustment spindle in a second direction opposite to said first direction decreases the concavity of the surface contour of the folding mirror.

A resonator for an excimer or molecular fluorine laser system, comprising:

• a discharge chamber for filling with a gas mixture;
• a plurality of electrodes within the discharge chamber for connecting to a discharge circuit for energizing the gas mixture;
• a pair of resonator reflectors for generating a laser beam;
• and
• a bi-directional bandwidth controlled folding mirror assembly disposed between the pair of resonator reflectors, the mirror assembly including:
• a folding mirror;
• a coupling plate coupling with the mirror;
• a piezo transducer coupled with the coupling plate, and
• wherein operating the piezo transducer in a first direction increases a concavity of the folding mirror, and operating the piezo transducer in a second direction opposite to said first direction decreases a concavity of the folding mirror.