Short-wavelength laser - progress and prospects

Journal Article · Sat Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985 · Energy Technol. Rev. (Livermore, CA) (U.S.); (United States)

OSTI ID:6033678

Hagelstein, P L

A review is presented of theoretical and experimental work on developing a soft X-ray laser. The goal of all the efforts has been to achieve energetic population inversions, either by cooling the excited atoms through hydrodynamic expansion of the plasma or by radiative cooling of a magnetically confined plasma. Recombining electrons with photons at high energy quantum levels have also yielded positive results when combined with an ionization of lower-energy state thermalized electrons to facilitate the inversion. Very few useful resonance states have been identified for photoexcitation methods, although a staged approach, i.e., first populating an excited metastable state and then pumping the metastable state ions to a higher state, has shown promise, but at high power requirements. Other avenues being explored to obtain EUV wavelengths include charge transfer, free electron and electron collisional excitation lasers, all of which are briefly discussed. 20 references.

• OSTI ID: 6033678
• Journal Information: Energy Technol. Rev. (Livermore, CA) (U.S.); (United States), Journal Name: Energy Technol. Rev. (Livermore, CA) (U.S.); (United States); ISSN ETRED
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420300* -- Engineering-- Lasers-- (-1989)
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
FREE ELECTRON LASERS
IONIZATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
LASERS
PHOTOIONIZATION
RADIATIONS
REVIEWS
SOFT X RADIATION
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
X RADIATION