Solving electromagnetic eigenvalue problems in polyhedral domains with nodal finite elements

A few years ago, Costabel and Dauge proposed a variational setting, which allows one to solve numerically the time-harmonic Maxwell equations in 3D polyhedral geometries, with the help of a continuous approximation of the electromagnetic field. In order to remove spurious eigenmodes, their method required a parameterization of the variational formulation. In order to avoid this difficulty, we use a mixed variational setting instead of the parameterization, which allows us to handle the divergence-free constraint on the field in a straightforward manner. The numerical analysis of the method is carried out, and numerical examples are provided to show the efficiency of our approach.     

Saturated amplification of a collisionally pumped optical-field-ionization soft X-ray laser at 41.8 nm

We report the first saturated amplification of an optical-field-ionization soft x-ray laser. The amplifying medium is generated by focusing a circularly polarized 330-mJ, 35-fs, 10-Hz Ti:sapphire laser system in a few-mm cell filled with xenon. A gain of 67 cm(-1) on the 4d(9)5p-4d(9)5d transition at 41.8 nm in Pd-like xenon and a gain-length product of 15 have been inferred at saturation. This source delivers about 5 x 10(9) photons per pulse. The influence of the pumping energy and the laser polarization on the lasing output are also presented.