High-order tunable sum and difference frequency mixing in the xuv region

We present a study of tunable high-order sum and difference frequency mixing in the 7-70 eV range, in xenon, argon and neon. We mix the light from a terawatt, subpicosecond titanium-sapphire laser and that from a tunable optical parametric generator. The radiation generated through mixing processes involves absorption or emission of one or Mo photons from the weak tunable source. The relative strengths of the sum and difference frequency processes depend strongly on the wavelength range of the generated radiation. The sum frequency processes are stronger at low photon energies in xenon, whereas the difference frequency processes dominate at high photon energies, in neon, being almost comparable to harmonic generation.