UV supercontinuum based on gas filled anti resonant hollow core fibers is demonstrated to have passed a major milestone by providing spectral properties comparable to those of plasma arc lamps, namely a broad, flat, low noise, and stable spectrum. The primary advancement is the use of pump modulation which flattens the spectrum by more than 20dB. As proof of concept, results from scatterometry measurements, with both UV supercontinuum and plasma arc lamps are shown to produce comparable results. However, UV supercontinuum can meet additional requirements making it suitable for many cutting-edge UV metrology applications such as imaging and spectroscopy.
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