Progress in the applicability of plasma X-ray lasers

Abstract

Proposed as satellite-based weapons during the 1980s, X-ray lasing was for a long time only achieved with enormous amounts of pump energy in either nuclear explosions or at kilojoule-class laser installations. During the last few years a tremendous development was achieved, most visible in the realisation of the FEL lasers at DESY and SLAC. As important for a wider applicability is the enormous reduction in pump energy for laser pumped plasma X-ray lasers, which now brings such devices into the range of applications for diagnostics and spectroscopy even in smaller laboratories. Main developments were the transient excitation scheme and the optimized pumping concepts. This paper concentrates on developments at the GSI Helmholtzcenter at Darmstadt aiming towards reliable X-ray laser sources in the range from 50 to several 100 eV. The main driving forces for the laser development at GSI are the possible application for the spectroscopy of Li-like ions in the storage ring ESR and the future storage ring NESR at FAIR, and the interest in novel plasma diagnostics.

Experimental demonstration of a collinear triple pulse grazing-incidence pumping scheme for a transient collisional pumped x-ray laser

“…A set of aluminum (Al) filters is used to stop IR radiation and to attenuate the XRL pulses before the CCD. The generation of the triple pulse structure (figure 1(a)) is described in [18] and [20].…”

Atomic physics techniques for studying nuclear ground state properties, fundamental interactions and symmetries: status and perspectives

“…Thomas Kühl [182] gave an overview on the progress of plasma x-ray lasers. Coherent light can now be produced with high brightness, a repetition rate of 100 Hz, and in a wave length region of 4 to 30 nm.…”