Light source for generating light from a laser sustained plasma in a above-atmospheric pressure chamber

1. A laser driven light source comprising:

a sealed pressurized chamber having a gas at a pressure greater than 10 atmospheres during operation;

an ignition source for ionizing the gas within the chamber; and

an at least substantially continuous laser for providing energy within a wavelength range from about 700 nm to 2000 nm to the ionized gas to sustain a plasma within the chamber to produce a plasma-generated light having wavelengths greater than 50 nm,

the chamber further comprising a region of material that is transparent to at least a portion of the plasma-generated light and that allows said portion plasma-generated light to exit the chamber.

2. The laser driven light source of claim 1 , comprising at least one optical element for modifying a property of the laser energy provided to the ionized gas.

3. The laser driven light source of claim 2 wherein the optical element is a lens or mirror focusing the laser energy into a region of the ionized gas.

4. The laser driven light source of claim 1 wherein the pressurized chamber or a window in the chamber comprises a material selected from the group consisting of quartz, Suprasil quartz, sapphire, MgF 2 , diamond, and CaF 2 .

5. The laser driven light source of claim 1 wherein the region of transparent material is a window comprising a material selected from the group consisting of quartz and sapphire.

6. The laser driven light source of claim 1 wherein the at least one laser is a continuous wave laser.

7. The laser driven light source of claim 1 wherein the ignition source is selected from the group consisting of electrodes, an ultraviolet ignition source, a capacitive ignition source, an inductive ignition source, a flash lamp, a pulsed laser, and a pulsed lamp.

8. The laser driven light source of claim 1 wherein the pressurized chamber has a wall that forms a curved reflective surface for receiving at least a portion of the plasma-generated light and reflecting the portion of the plasma-generated light toward the region of transparent material to exit the chamber.

9. The laser driven light source of claim 1 wherein the pressure in the chamber during operation is greater than about 30 atmospheres.

10. A laser driven light source comprising:

a light bulb defining a sealed pressurized chamber containing a gas at an operating pressure of greater than 10 atmospheres;

an ignition source for ionizing a gas within the light bulb,

at least one at least substantially continuous laser for providing energy within a wavelength range of up to about 2000 nm to the ionized gas to sustain a plasma within the light bulb to produce a plasma-generated light having output wavelengths greater than 50 nm,

the sealed pressurized chamber further comprising a region of material which is transparent to at least a portion of the plasma-generated light, the region of material allowing said portion of the plasma-generated light to exit the light bulb and illuminate a surface.

11. The laser driven light source of claim 10 wherein the pressure within the chamber is maintained at between about 10 atmosphere and 200 atmospheres during operation of the light source.

12. The laser driven light source of claim 10 wherein the chamber comprises a paraboloid or ellipsoid shape with an inner surface that is reflective.

13. The laser driven light source of claim 10 wherein the region of transparent material is a window that is transparent to the plasma-generated light and the laser energy.

14. The laser driven light source of claim 13 wherein the window comprises sapphire or quartz.

15. A laser driven light source, comprising:

a sealed pressurized chamber having (i) a wall that forms a curved reflective surface, (ii) a window, and (iii) having an operating pressure that is greater than atmospheric pressure;

an ignition source for ionizing a gas within the sealed pressurized chamber; and

at least one laser external to the sealed pressurized chamber for providing electromagnetic energy to the sealed pressurized chamber;

the curved reflective surface receiving and reflecting at least a portion of the electromagnetic energy toward the ionized gas within the chamber to produce a plasma that generates plasma-generated light having wavelengths greater than 50 nm, the curved reflective surface also receiving at least a portion of the plasma-generated light emitted by the plasma and reflecting the portion of the plasma-generated light toward the window to exit the light source.

16. The laser driven light source of claim 15 , wherein the curved reflective surface focuses the electromagnetic energy on a region in the chamber where the plasma is located.

17. The laser driven light source of claim 15 , wherein the curved reflective surface is an inner surface of the sealed pressurized chamber.

18. The laser driven light source of claim 15 , wherein the pressurized chamber comprises the curved reflective surface and a window that is transparent to the emitted light and laser energy.

19. The laser driven light source of claim 15 , further comprising at least one optical element reflecting or passing the electromagnetic energy, the at least one optical element comprises a reflector that at least substantially reflects a first set of predefined wavelengths of the electromagnetic energy generated by the at least one laser and at least substantially allows a second set of wavelengths of the plasma-generated light to pass through the optical element thereby separating the beam of electromagnetic energy provided by the laser from the beam of plasma-generated light generated within the pressurized chamber.

20. The laser driven light source of claim 15 , further comprising at least one optical element reflecting or passing the electromagnetic energy, the at least one optical element comprises a reflector that at least substantially allows a first set of predefined wavelengths of the electromagnetic energy generated by the at least one laser to pass through the optical element and at least substantially reflects a second set of wavelengths of the plasma-generated light thereby separating the beam of electromagnetic energy provided by the laser from the beam of plasma-generated light generated within the pressurized chamber.

21. The laser driven light source of claim 15 , wherein the pressurized chamber has a pressure of at least 10 atmospheres during operation.

22. The laser driven light source of claim 15 , wherein the pressurized chamber has a pressure between about 10 atmospheres and 200 atmospheres during operation.

23. The laser driven light source of claim 15 , wherein the ignition source includes electrodes within the chamber.

24. The laser driven light source of claim 15 , wherein the plasma-generated light is sustained by a continuous wave laser.

25. The laser driven light source of claim 1 wherein the laser energy is provided to the plasma over a solid angle of at least 0.012 steradians.

26. The laser driven light source of claim 1 wherein the region of material that is transparent allows said portion of the plasma generated light to exit the chamber and illuminate a surface of a semiconductor wafer.

27. The laser driven light source of claim 10 wherein the pressurized chamber has a wall that forms a curved reflective surface for receiving at least a portion of the plasma-generated light and reflecting the portion of the plasma-generated light toward the region of transparent material to exit the light bulb.

28. The laser driven light source of claim 27 wherein the region of transparent material allows the portion of the plasma generated light to exit the light bulb and illuminate a surface of a wafer.

29. The laser driven light source of claim 10 wherein the laser driven light source produces plasma-generated light having output wavelengths greater than about 200 nm.

30. The laser driven light source of claim 15 wherein the pressure in the chamber during operation is greater than about 30 atmospheres.