Electron-beam-controlled CO2 laser with plasma mirror

A new high-power electron-beam-controlled CO₂ laser scheme, based on the use of the molecular properties of a high-temperature laser plasma (plasma mirror) produced by the action of the laser radiation on the surface of a solid target and serving as one of the mirrors of the laser resonator, is investigated in detail. The scheme makes it possible to generate laser pulses of nanosecond duration with power of several dozen gigawatts and efficiency 6–10% and obtain a laser plasma with a temperature of several million degrees. The possibility of practical utilization, in applications, of a plasma mirror as a powerful source of soft x rays is demonstrated.Translated from Trudy Ordena Lenina Fizicheskogo Instituta im. P. N. Lebedeva, Vol. 116, pp. 118–145, 1980.