Modeling Extreme Ultraviolet Lasers

Extreme ultraviolet lasers, with wavelengths about fifty times shorter than visible light, are a new and powerful tool for scientific applications. Due to their short wavelength and large photon energy, they are capable of interacting with matter in significantly smaller areas and new ways. This makes them particularly interesting for high resolution microscopy, lithography, nanotechnology, photophysics, and photochemistry applications. Key to their development is a proper understanding of the plasma physics and amplification behavior. For this purpose we have developed several computer models that simulate the plasmas used to generate the laser and the amplification of the light. These models allow for a complete understanding of the lasers, and run on high performance computers. The current progress of the lasers and computer models is presented.