Development of short pulse laser pumped x-ray lasers

Abstract

X-ray lasers have been extensively studied around the world since the first laboratory demonstration on the Novette laser at LLNL in 1984. The characteristic properties of short wavelength, high monochromaticity, collimation and coherence make x-ray lasers useful for various applications. These include demonstrations of biological imaging within the water window, interferometry of laser plasmas and radiography of laser-heated surfaces. One of the critical issues has been the high power pump required to produce the inversion. The power scaling as a function of x-ray laser wavelength follows a {approx} {lambda}{sup -4} to {approx} {lambda}{sup -6} law. The shortest x-ray laser wavelength of {approx}35 {angstrom} demonstrated for Ni-like Au was at the limit of Nova laser capabilities. By requiring large, high power lasers such as Nova, the shot rate and total number of shots available have limited the rapid development of x-ray lasers and applications. In fact over the last fifteen years the main thrust has been to develop more efficient, higher repetition rate x-ray lasers that can be readily scaled to shorter wavelengths. The recent state of progress in the field can be found in references. The objective of the project was to develop a soft x-ray laser (XRL) pumped by a short pulse laser of a few joules. In effect to demonstrate a robust, worlung tabletop x-ray laser at LLNL for the first time. The transient collisional scheme as proposed by Shlyaptsev et al. was the candidate x-ray laser for study. The successful endeavor of any scientific investigation is often based upon prudent early decisions and the choice of this scheme was both sound and fruitful. It had been demonstrated very recently for Ne-like Ti at 326 {angstrom} using a small tabletop laser but had not yet reached its full potential. We chose this scheme for several reasons: (a) it was a collisional-type x-ray laser which has been historically the most robust; (b) it had the promise of high efficiency and low energy threshold for lasing; (c) the principal architect of this laser (Dr. Shlyaptsev) was part of the team; (d) the laser driver requirements matched closely to the existing Physics facilities. There were additional important reasons for study. The higher repetition rate and therefore total number of shots available in a smaller facility would allow a more complete characterization of the x-ray laser properties. Optimized plasma irradiation conditions should then lead to the extraction of the maximum x-ray laser energy at the shortest possible wavelength. Also, tabletop XRLs are a relatively new phenomenon and so new transient {approx}1 ps timescale atomic kinetic physics could be studied. In the remainder of this report we give a brief summary of the DRD activities and give concluding remarks with future directions. More details of the work can be found in the publications, proceedings and documents listed in the Appendix at the end of this report.

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