Progress in understanding the short-pulse-driven collisional x-ray lasers
Recently, the technique of using a nsec pulse to preform and ionize the plasma followed by a psec pulse to heat the plasma has enabled low-Z neon-like and nickel-like ions to lase driven by small lasers with only ten joules of energy. In this work we model recent experiments done using the COMET laser at LLNL to illuminate I cm long slab targets of Ti with a 4.8 J, 800 ps prepulse followed 1.6 nsec later by a 6 J, 1 psec drive pulse. The LASNEX code is used to calculate the hydrodynamic evolution of the plasma and provide the temperatures and densities fo the XRASER code, which then does the kinetics calculations to determine the gain. The temporal and spatial evolution of the plasma is studied both with and without radiation transport included for the 3d and 3s (arrow) 2p Ne-like Ti resonance lines. Large regions with gains greater than 80 cmminus1 are predicted for the 3p 1S0 (arrow), 3s 1P,1Ne-like Ti laser line at 326 Å. Given the large gain and low gradients in these plasmas, we do propagation calculations including refraction to understand which regions have the right combination of high gain and low gradients to contribute to the X-ray laser output. Calculations are also presented using different delays between the long and short pulse and different widths for the short pulse to provide better insight for optimizing the laser output. In addition to the standard 326 Å laser line, high gain is also predicted and observed for the 3d 1P1 (arrow) 3p 1P1, laser line at 301 Å in Ne-like Ti. We present calculations with and without radiation rransport included on the strong 3d 1P1 (arrow) 2p 1S0, resonance line to better understand this self photopumping effect. We also look at the analog transition in Ni-like ions to understand if self photopumping may also play a role in Ni-like ions. High gain is predicted on the 3d9 4f 1P1 (arrow) 3d9 4d 1P1 Ni-like transition and this line has recently been observed at 226 Å in Ni-like Mo.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-Eng-48
- OSTI ID:
- 2488
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-130948; R&D Project: DP0102052; ON: DE00002488
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 6th International Conference on X-Ray Lasers, Kyoto, Japan, August 30-September 4, 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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