Demonstration of a high average power tabletop soft x-ray laser
Date
1998
Authors
Benware, B. R., author
Moreno, C. H., author
Macchietto, C. D., author
Rocca, Jorge J., author
American Physical Society, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
We report the first demonstration of a high average power tabletop soft x-ray laser. An average laser output power of ≈1 mW (>2 × 1014 photons/s) was generated at 46.9 nm in Ne-like Ar using a very compact tabletop discharge. The spatially coherent average power emitted by this 26.5 eV laser is comparable to that generated at this photon energy in a similar bandwidth (Δλ/λ = 10-4) by a third generation synchrotron beam line. Lasing was obtained at a repetition rate of 7 Hz with an average output energy of 135 μJ/pulse by exciting a plasma column in a ceramic capillary with a fast current pulse. This very compact high-repetition-rate laser source makes intense short-wavelength coherent radiation accessible to a wide variety of new applications.