Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation Source Based on a Discharge Sustained by a Radiation Pulse from a Terahertz Free-Electron Laser

Abstract

We consider the possibility of sustaining a discharge in xenon efficiently emitting light in a wavelength range of 11.2 nm ± 1% by a subnanosecond terahertz radiation pulse. We have simulated such a discharge for parameters typical of experiments using modern free-electron lasers as a source of a high-intensity terahertz radiation. It is shown that a NovoFEL-3 modernized free-electron laser at the Budker Institute will allow to sustain a point-like plasma discharge with a density of excited Xe10+–Xe11+ ions sufficient for the yield of extreme ultraviolet radiation with an average power of 35 W in a wavelength range of 11.2 nm ± 1%.