Efficient soft x-ray lasing at wavelengths of 20 to 30 nm

Abstract

Intense lasing at 18.9, 20.3 and 28.5 nm from nickel-like molybdenum, niobium and neon-like chromium ions has been observed by using two 200 ps laser pulses with a total energy of 50 J at 1.053 micrometers from XingGuang II laser facility. This shows the possibility of extending nickel- like and neon-like x-ray lasing in low-Z elements and paves the way towards small scale x-ray lasers for applications at university laboratories. A comparison has been made of performance of the neon-like chromium soft x-ray lasing at 28.5 nm driven by a double 900 ps pulse at 6 TW(DOT)cm -2 , with that driven by a double 200 ps pulse at similar irradiance. The double 200 ps pulse has been found to be more efficient to drive the neon-like x-ray lasing.