Using short pulse lasers to drive X-ray lasers

Conference · Mon Jul 27 04:00:00 EDT 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826989· OSTI ID:962815

Nilsen, J

Nearly four decades ago H-like and He-like resonantly photo-pumped laser schemes were proposed for producing X-ray lasers. However, demonstrating these schemes in the laboratory has proved to be elusive. One challenge has been the difficulty of finding an adequate resonance between a strong pump line and a line in the laser plasma that drives the laser transition. Given a good resonance, a second challenge has been to create both the pump and laser plasma in close proximity so as to allow the pump line to transfer its energy to the laser material. With the advent of the X-FEL at LCLS we now have a tunable X-ray laser source that can be used to replace the pump line in previously proposed laser schemes and allow researchers to study the physics and feasibility of photo-pumped laser schemes. In this paper we model the Na-pumped Ne X-ray laser scheme that was proposed and studied many years ago by replacing the Na He-{alpha} pump line at 1127 eV with the X-FEL at LCLS. We predict gain on the 4f - 3d transition at 231 {angstrom}. We also examine the feasibility of photo-pumping He-like V and lasing on the 4f - 3d transition at 38.7 {angstrom}, which would be within the water-window. In addition we look at the possibility of photo-pumping Ne-like Fe and creating gain on the 4d - 3p transition at 53 {angstrom} and the 3p - 3s transition at 255 {angstrom}.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 962815
• Report Number(s): LLNL-PROC-415131
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
LASER MATERIALS
LASERS
OPTICS
PHYSICS
PLASMA
RESONANCE
X-RAY LASERS