Saturated XUV lasing down to 8.85 nm using the grazing-incidence scheme

Abstract

AbstractWe report on recent progress achieved in x-ray laser research at the Institute of Applied Physics of the University of Bern. Using the existing 10-TW Nd:glass CPA (chirped-pulse amplification) laser system in the grazing-incidence pumping (GRIP) scheme, saturated x-ray lasing has been obtained on the 4d → 4p, J = 0-1 lines of Ba and La at wavelengths of 9.2 and 8.85 nm, respectively, using main pumping pulse energies of 9 J (Ba) and 12 J (La). For handling convenience, compound targets (BaF2, LaF3) were used, either in the form of windows or coated onto glass slides. Crucial to these results was the introduction of a second, relatively intense (>10%) prepulse less than ~100 ps before the main pulse.KeywordsPump EnergyMain PulseLine FocusCompressor GratingPulse Front TiltThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.