Design of Highly Directive Ni-Like Ag X-Ray Laser at 13.9nm

We theoretically investigate a 13.9nm Ni-like Ag x-ray laser using a one-dimensional hydrodynamic code coupled with an atomic physics data package. The population inversion is transiently pumped by a grazing incident 0.5ps main pulse irradiating into an optimized plasma, which is generated by a normal incidence 300ps pulse and a subsequent grazing incidence 300ps pulse. The effect of the grazing-incidence angle on the source position of the output x-ray laser is investigated. Near zero deflecting angle is found for the peak output intensity of the Ni-like Ag x-ray lasers, with a small FWHM divergence of 5mrad. It is predicted that saturation can be achieved with a total pump energy of 165mJ.     

Prepulse dependence ofJ=0−1 lasing at 32.6 nm in neon-like titanium

The dependence of the intensity of the 3p—3s,J = 0–1 lasing line at 32.6 nm in neon-like titanium on the prepulse level has been investigated experimentally. Titanium slabs were irradiated with 1.315 µm/450 ps pulses from the Asterix IV iodine laser using a defined prepulse of 5.2 ns before the main pulse. It is found that for pump energies close to the minimum energy for which lasing is observed, a prepulse level of order 0.5% gives the highest XUV laser intensity, whereas a higher prepulse level, of order 10% and more, is required for optimum XUV lasing far above the threshold. For a 2.7 cm long titanium target lasing was observed down to a pump irradiance of 2.5 TW/cm² (50 J/450 ps) for the 0.5% prepulse.     

Efficient J=0-1 soft-X-ray lasing in neon-like ions at pump powers below 250 GW

2 . By using a 0.7% prepulse that precedes the main pulse by 5 ns and applying a total pump energy of 100 J or less, the J=0-1 lasing is at least one order of magnitude higher than the non-lasing background. For the 32.6-nm line of Ti, the 25.5-nm line of Fe, and the 23.1-nm line of Ni, gain coefficients of (±) 4.20.4cm^-1, (±) 3.90.3cm^-1, and (±) 3.60.6cm^-1, respectively, were measured for 2.4-cm-long curved targets, resulting in gain–length products of ∼10. Angle-resolved spectra indicate a beam divergence of 3 mrad (FWHM), typically. The space-resolved spectra show that the J=0-1 lasing lines are emitted from an approximately 60-μm-wide (FWHM) plasma region, whereas the nearby continuum emission is produced in a considerably broader plasma region of ∼250 μm. Lasing at 25.5 nm in neon-like iron was observed at a pump power as low as 180 GW (∼9 TW/cm²), with, however, considerable shot-to-shot scatter in the absolute laser output. Received: 5 September 1997/Revised version: 10 November 1997     

Collisional excitation soft X-ray laser at 23.6 nm in a laser-produced cylindrical target

We have tested soft X-ray lasing in neon-like germanium with cylindrical targets where wave guiding and plasma confinement may affect lasing. An intense soft X-ray laser beam of 0.05 MW peak power and a narrow beam divergence (8 mrad) was produced at 23.6 nm with a 4 cm long straight cylindrical target of 0.72 mm inner diameter. Bending the cylindrical target to form a toroidal shape increased the lasing intensity by a factor of 3 accompanied with reduction of the beam divergence from 8 to 6 mrad.     

Hydrogen-like recombination X-ray lasers using ps pulse drivers

We propose a scheme for producing high gain recombination X-ray lasers on hydrogen-like Balmer transitions by irradiating fibre targets with a 2 ps Chirped Pulse Amplification CPA beam of a Nd-glass laser facility. Very high gain coefficients for H-like C, N, O, F, Na Balmer transitions are predicted. The optimum electron density and temperature for maximum gain operation scale approximately asN _e 4 × 10¹³ Z ⁷ cm^–3 and T_e 7 × 10^–3 Z ⁴ eV, respectively, at the time when maximum lasing gain appears. Significant improvement in gain performance of recombination X-ray lasers is predicted by using CPA ps pulse drivers.     

Amplification in Ni-like Nb at 204.2 Å pumped by a table-top laser

We identified for the first time the 3d ⁹4d ¹ S – 3d ⁹4p ¹ P line in Ni-like Nb at 204.2 Å that was predicted to show gain. When pumped with a train of pulses containing less than 1 J per pulse, significant emission was recorded at 204.2 Å following the second and the third pulses. We measured the small signal gain coefficient per Joule of incident laser energy to be 1.49±0.42 cm^–1 J^–1 for this laser transition, which is higher by several orders of magnitude than that reported for other collisional laser systems in this wavelength range.     

The effect of prepulse on X-ray laser development using a powerful subpicosecond KrF laser

A high power UV laser has been developed as a pump source for short wavelength (down to 1 nm) X-ray lasers. Various schemes are considered and theoretical analysis is discussed. Spectroscopic studies of laser-target interaction have been performed and, in particular, the effect of a prepulse on plasma generation has been investigated. Analysis of the observed spectra indicates that reduction of the prepulse energy results in a higher temperature plasma. Investigation of the interaction using thin layered targets is also presented. These data provide evidence for initially hot plasma conditions generated from target layers 150 Å. Discussions of proposed laser schemes at 1–5 nm are presented.Also at the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ     

Study of anomalous lasing behavior on the twoJ=0−1 transitions in Ne-like V

We present an experimental report on the recent observation of lasing at 26.1 and 30.4 nm on the 3p ¹ S ₀–3s ³ P ₁ [termedG((0–1)] and 3p ¹ S ₀–3s ¹ P ₁ [termedE(0–1)] transitions in Ne-like V, in which the normally weakG(0–1) transition was observed to lase more strongly than theE(0–1) transition. The experiment was performed on the Asterix IV iodine laser with a prepulse 5.23 ns before the main pulse. At a target length of about 2.5 cm, it was found that, while theG(0–1) andE(0–1) lines have comparable intensities in V, theE(0–1) line dominates spectra from Mn, Cr, Ti and Sc, which have adjacent nuclear charges. It was also found that the two lasers in V also have different temporal histories and spatial distributions. This is in contrast to the LASNEX + XRASER simulation, which predicts virtually similar temporal and spatial behavior for the two transitions. On leave from: Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, P.O. Box 800211, Shanghai, People's Republic of China     

Nd:YAG Lasers Operating at 1064nm and 946nm by Direct Pumping and Thermally Boosted Pumping

We demonstrate a 1064nm Nd：YAG laser by directly pumping into the upper lasing level with a tunable Ti：sapphire laser. The valid wavelength is demonstrated at 868.3nm, 875.2nm, 883.8nm, and 885.5nm, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first time that 1064nm Nd：YAG laser pumped by 875.2nm laser. In addition, laser wavelength at 946 nm is also generated by direct pumping together with traditional pumping.     

Verification of X-ray line coincidences by high-resolution spectroscopy

Photo-resonant pumping of X-ray lasers requires close coincidence of a strong emission line with a suitable absorbing transition. We use a high-resolution crystal spectrometer to verify five coincidences, one of which has apparently not yet appeared in published work. All but one of the coincidences are found to lie within one linewidth. With respect to X-ray laser photo-pumping three of the five coincidences seem to be promising candidates.     

Reduced absorption of neon-like bromine X-ray laser radiation in helium

We have measured the absorption of the 19.47-nm neon like bromine (J=2–1) X-ray laser line in low-pressure helium. The experiment was motivated by the coincidence of this line with the low-absorption wing of an autoionizing transition in helium. We observe that, with 1 mbar of helium, the continuum background and another bromine X-ray laser line at 19.82 nm are strongly reduced, enhancing the relative strength of the 19.47-nm laser line. Increasing the helium pressure to 1.5 mbar makes the continuum virtually disappear, resulting in an almost monochromatic emission of the X-ray laser line. An estimate of the absorption cross section for the 19.47-nm line is given as ≈3.9×10^-19 cm² and for the nearby continuum as 0.9–1.3×10^-18 cm². Received: 8 March 1999 / Revised version: 26 April 1999 / Published online: 11 August 1999     

Non-uniform Influence of Prepulse Duration on a Nickel-Like Mo X-Ray Laser in XLIII

An experiment on a transient nickel-like Mo x-ray laser in the extreme light III (XL III) laser facility is analyzed, based on the two-dimensional hydrodynamic evolutions of a plasma under a non-uniform incident laser. Influences of the pulse duration and intensity on plasma scale length, electron density, temperature, as well as their distributions are investigated, based on which the pre-pulse character and delay time are determined according to the parameters of laser line focus on XLIII. It is found that the optimal intensity of the pre-pulse is 1.0TW/cm² with a duration of 500ps; a well modified pre-plasma can be obtained after 1.6ns under low quality line focus in the lab.     

Simulations on false gain in recombination-pumped soft-X-ray lasers

-1 in the case of plasmas with short active medium lengths. The false gain in the case of fiber targets is found to be of equal magnitude to that for slabs in the case of plasmas with less than 0.1 cm active medium lengths. Calculations for slab targets predict that adopting a tolerance of ±1 cm^-1 for gain will severely restrict the time and the active medium length of the plasma that can be used for error-free observations, while those for fiber targets are found to be considerably relaxed. The effects of false gain in the 54.2 Å Na Balmer α laser is also investigated, again revealing the importance of this phenomena under optimum gain conditions. Received: 10 December 1996/Revised version: 12 March 1997     

Theoretical study of the feasibility of dual-band multiline operation of a TEA CO2 laser with intracavity fabry-perot etalons

It is shown that dual-band multiline operation of a TEA CO₂ laser can be conveniently achieved with the use of either one or two intracavity etalons of judiciously selected finesse and optical lengths.     

Tunable sub-100 femtosecond dye-laser pulses generated with a nanosecond pulsed pumping

Subpicosecond pulses at a fixed wavelength produced with a low-Q cavity dye laser pumped by a single, nanosecond laser (Q-switched Nd:YAG) are converted into tunable high-power sub-100 femtosecond pulses by generation, spectral selection, amplification and compression of a supercontinuum. The tunable, chirped, high-energy pulses obtained are compressed with a prism pair. Energies up to 50 J in sub-100 fs pulses were obtained in the 540 to 650 nm range using 40 mJ of the Nd: YAG-laser pumping pulses at 532 nm. The whole sub-100 fs system including the low-Q dye laser uses only one Nd:YAG laser as a pump source.     

Direct generation of sub-nanosecond pulses in a high-pressure miniature excimer laser

Direct generation of subnanosecond pulses in a 9.0 cm discharge-length high-pressure XeCl laser is reported. The shortest pulse obtained was 670 ps (FWHM) with an energy of 1.2 mJ corresponding to 1.8 MW peak power.     

Highly efficient synchronous amplification of a picosecond dye laser at a kHz repetition rate

A short pulse, high energy, high repetition rate dye amplifier with superior conversion efficiency is reported. The dye amplifier is composed of three single-pass dye cells, longitudinally pumped by a frequency doubled 1 kHz Nd: YLF regenerative amplifier. The dye amplifier yields 3.5 ps, 150 J pulses at 595 nm, corresponding to a 12% conversion efficiency. The ASE is 1% or less, and the transverse mode quality is near-Gaussian.In absentia from the Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA     

Conditions for XUV amplification considering recombination in clusters

3 cm^-l for a wavelength of λ_R≈200 Å in a time ≲1 ps can be expected. The measurable gain G_real depends on the cluster density N_cl. For N_cl≈10¹⁶ cm^-3 we expect G_real≳20 cm^-1. Received: 30 October 1997     

Fluorescence measurements in a Low-pressure Kr/F2 medium

The time-resolved measurement of the sidelight fluorescence of KrF* formed by a short electron-beam pumping pulse (20 ns FWHM, 19 kA, 860 kV) was performed as a function of both the total pressure ranging from 100 Torr to 400 Torr and the partial F₂ concentration (0.1–1.0%). We have estimated the fluorescence yields (FY) for various laser-gas conditions experimentally and the results were compared with numerical predictions. This study indicates a superior amplification performance for a single ultrashort pulse in a low-pressure medium because of the higher FY for KrF*.     

Auto-prepulse operation of a long-pulse XeCl laser

A standard corona preionized XeCl laser prototype has been excited by a very simple L-C circuit consisting of a large storage capacitance charged at relatively low voltage (12 kV) and discharged via a switch on the electrodes, tightly coupled with the peaking capacitors. The resulting overvoltage following the switch closure behaves as an effective and automatic prepulse, providing a homogeneous discharge lasting up to 400 ns. Energy output levels of the order of 150 mJ at 1.4% overall efficiency have been achieved.