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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Method and apparatus for producing durationally short ultraviolet or x-ray laser pulses

Patent ·
OSTI ID:5020697
A method for shortening the duration of a nanosecond time scale, ultraviolet or X-ray laser pulse, is described comprising the steps of: illuminating a flat surfaced portion of a target comprised of a solid structural material, directing the ultraviolet or X-ray laser pulse along a straight line passing axially through the spatial region within which the streaming plasma is produced, so that the ultraviolet or X-ray laser pulse is first increasingly refracted away from the flat surfaced portion of the target, as the free electron density profile of the streaming plasma increases in steepness, and is then decreasingly refracted back toward the straight line along which the ultraviolet or X-ray laser pulse is directed, as the free electron density profile of the streaming plasma gradually levels; and positioning an opaque barrier having an aperture at a spatial location that permits a portion of the ultraviolet or X-ray laser pulse.
Assignee:
Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC
Patent Number(s):
US 4731786
OSTI ID:
5020697
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English