Efficient Excitation of Gain-Saturated Sub-9-nm-Wavelength Tabletop Soft-X-Ray Lasers and Lasing Down to 7.36 nm

• We have demonstrated the efficient generation of sub-9-nm-wavelength picosecond laser pulses of microjoule energy at 1-Hz repetition rate with a tabletop laser. Gain-saturated lasing was obtained at λ=8.85  nm in nickel-like lanthanum ions excited by collisional electron-impact excitation in a precreated plasma column heated by a picosecond optical laser pulse of 4-J energy. Furthermore, isoelectronic scaling along the lanthanide series resulted in lasing at wavelengths as short as λ=7.36  nm. Simulations show that the collisionally broadened atomic transitions in these dense plasmas can support the amplification of subpicosecond soft-x-ray laser pulses.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Atom- och molekylfysik och optik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics (hsv//eng)

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ref (subject category)

art (subject category)