Soft X-Ray Lasers and Their Applications

Abstract

The emerging technology of soft x-ray lasers has novel applications to microscopy, lithography, and other fields. This article describes the status of soft x-ray laser research with the aim of bringing the rapid developments in this field to the attention of potential users in other disciplines. The different techniques for generating a population inversion and producing a soft x-ray laser are reviewed. The status of current research in the field and the near-term prospects are described. It is expected that the range of potential applications of soft x-ray lasers will increase as their performance improves. Work aimed at increasing the output power and progressing to shorter wavelengths with these devices is also reviewed.

Interaction between parallel Gaussian electromagnetic beams in a plasma with weakly relativistic-ponderomotive regime

“…Theoretical and experimental study of evolution of high intensity laser beams as they propagate through plasmas is an active area of research due to its importance in potential applications such as plasma based accelerators [1], inertial confinement fusion [2,3], ionospheric modification [4,5] and new radiation sources [6,7]. For success of these applications, a long propagation distance of intense lasers in plasma is desirable.…”

Self-focusing and defocusing of TEM0p Hermite–Gaussian laser beams in collisionless plasma

“…Study of the phenomena related to self-focusing of intense laser light propagating in a plasma has become a subject of considerable interest, since these phenomena play an important role in a large amount of high power laser applications, such as X-ray lasers [1], harmonic generation [2,3], laser-driven plasma accelerators [4][5][6][7][8][9], and fast igniter concept of inertial confinement fusion [10]. For these applications, preformed plasma channels are required to further guide the laser beam beyond the Rayleigh length, after which the beam expands infinitely in vacuum due to natural diffraction.…”

Temporal coherence measurements of a seeded GRIP transient Ni-like Mo soft X-ray laser

“…X-ray lasers are widely used in lithography, high resolution imaging, phase coherent probing of atomic and molecular systems, and structural biology [1]. These applications are effected by the spatial and temporal coherence of these sources.…”