Demonstration of a hybrid collisional soft-x-ray laser
Date
2001
Authors
Nickles, P. V., author
Sandner, W., author
Shlyaptsev, V. N., author
Kalachnikov, M. P., author
Bortolotto, F., author
Rocca, Jorge J., author
Janulewicz, K. A., author
American Physical Society, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
We report on a demonstration of x-ray-ultraviolet amplification following collisional excitation in a discharge-created plasma waveguide irradiated by a picosecond optical laser pulse. A capillary discharge was used to generate a sulfur plasma column with a large concentration of Ne-like ions and a radially concave electron density profile. The intense short laser pulse rapidly heated the electrons, producing amplification in the 3p 1S0-3s 1P1 transition of Ne-like S at 60.8 nm. The integrated gain-length product obtained exciting a 3-cm-long capillary with a 0.46-J short laser pulse is 6.8. The beam divergence was observed to decrease as a function of plasma column length, reaching 2.5 mrad for 30-mm-long capillaries. This hybrid laser pumping scheme could lead to a new generation of efficient tabletop soft-x-ray lasers.