Demonstration of a Discharge Pumped Table-Top Soft-X-Ray Laser

Abstract

We have reported the first observation of large soft-x-ray amplification in a discharge-created plasma. A gain coefficient of 0.6 cm " at 46.9 nrn was measured in a Ar-H 2 mixture, while higher laser intensities were reported in pure argon. It was later realized that the fraction of H 2 in the gas mixture experiments was, due to incomplete mixing of the gases, smaller than the 1:2 ratio reported, and amounted to less than 10%. Subsequent experiments have confirmed that larger amplification occurs in pure argon discharges, resulting in gain coefficients of up to 1.1 em -1.

Hybridly pumped collisional soft X-ray laser in Ne-like sulphur

“…A capacitor bank stores an energy of several tens of joules which is rapidly discharged through a capillary filled with gas. The peak current achieves a few tens of kiloamps within 30-50 ns [5]. Relatively low gain coefficient about 1 cm-1 is compensated by a very long (up to 25-30 em) active medium and saturation of the output has been demonstrated [6].…”

Generation of highly ionized cadmium plasma columns for a discharge-pumped Nickel-like Cd laser

“…Spectroscopically pure Cd vapor was produced in a room temperature environment utilizing a capacitive discharge. The metal vapor was injected into a capillary channel where it was subsequently excited with filst current pulses of up to 200 kA These results open the possibility of observing laser amplification in the 3d 9 4d-3<f4p line ofNi-like Cd at 13.2 nm and in laser lines of other Nickel-like ions in a discharge-created plasma.Large amplification in capillary discharge-pumped ultrashort wavelength lasers has been achieved in several elements at wavelengths ranging from 46.9 nm to 60.8 nm [1][2][3]. In particular, a tabletop Ne-like Ar laser operating at 46.9 nm has produced the highest average power reported to date from a soft x-ray laser, 3.5 mW [4].…”

“…Large amplification in capillary discharge-pumped ultrashort wavelength lasers has been achieved in several elements at wavelengths ranging from 46.9 nm to 60.8 nm [1][2][3]. In particular, a tabletop Ne-like Ar laser operating at 46.9 nm has produced the highest average power reported to date from a soft x-ray laser, 3.5 mW [4].…”

Applications of high repetition rate tabletop soft X-ray lasers become a reality in several fields

“…this discharge, the fast current r [8,9] in which monopole collisi inversion between the 3p 1 So and There is also significant interest in extending the availability of practical saturated laser ablation tabletop short wavelength lasers to different regions of the spectrum. In particular, applications in photochemistry and photophysics can significantly benefit from repetitive laser sources of high energy photon that are capable of causing single-photon ionization of neutral species, yet fall short of the 24.6 eV threshold for the photoionization of He.…”