Temporal characterization of a picosecond extreme ultraviolet laser pumped in grazing incidence

We report an experimental study of the temporal duration of a transient pumping extreme ultraviolet (XUV) laser emitted at 18.9 nm, using an ultrafast x-ray streak camera. We have investigated the shot-to-shot reproducibility of the pulse duration, as well as its behaviour as a function of several pumping parameters. Our results show that the pulse duration increases slowly with the pump pulse duration, in agreement with previous observations performed in a different geometry. The angle of the pump laser relative to the target surface also affects the XUV laser duration in a measurable way.