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Laboratory x-ray lasers are currently being studied by researchers worldwide. This paper reviews some of the recent work carried out at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Laser action has been demonstrated at wavelengths as short as 35.6 Å while saturation of the small signal gain has been observed with longer wavelength schemes. Some of the most successful schemes to date have been collisionally pumped x-ray lasers that use the thermal electron distribution within a laser-produced plasma to excite electrons from closed shells in neon- and nickel-like ions to metastable levels in the next shell. Attempts to quantify and improve the longitudinal and transverse coherence of collisionally pumped x-ray lasers are motivated by the desire to produce sources for specific applications. Toward this goal there is a large effort underway to enhance the power output of the Ni-like Ta x-ray laser at 44.83 Å as a source for x-ray imaging of live cells. Improving the efficiency of x-ray lasers in order to produce saturated output with smaller pump lasers is also a goal of this work.

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