Development of a sodium-pump/neo-lasant photopumped soft X-ray laser

Author

Stephenakis, S.J. ; Apruzese, J.P. ; Burkhalter, P.G. ; Cooperstein, G. ; Davis, J. ; Hinshelwood, D.D. ; Mehlman, G. ; Mosher, D. ; Ottinger, P.F. ; Scherrer, V.E. ; Thornhill, J.W. ; Welch, B.L. ; Young, F.C.

Author_Institution

US Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA

Volume

16

Issue

5

fYear

1988

fDate

10/1/1988 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

472

Lastpage

481

Abstract

An intense source of sodium pump-line radiation has been created and used to photopump a neon plasma for application to a pulsed-power driven sodium/neo X-ray laser. Properties of the sodium-pump plasma and the neon-lasant plasma required to optimize fluorescence and lasing are determined. The implosion of a sodium-bearing plasma with a megampere pulsed-power driver (Gamble II) is used to produce a linear Z-pinch with up to 25 GW of sodium-pump-line radiation. A separate neon plasma, driven by part of the return current from the imploding sodium plasma, is created parallel to the sodium line source at a distance of 5 cm. Evidence for population inversion is indicated by fluorescence enhancement of the 11-Å resonance line from the n =4 level of neon when pumped by sodium

Keywords

X-ray lasers; ion lasers; neon; optical pumping; plasma applications; population inversion; sodium; 25 GW; Gamble II; Na-Ne laser; Ne plasma; fluorescence; fluorescence enhancement; implosion; lasing; linear Z-pinch; megampere pulsed-power driver; photopumped laser; population inversion; pump-line radiation; resonance line; soft X-ray laser; Fluorescence; Laser excitation; Optical pulses; Plasma applications; Plasma properties; Plasma sources; Plasma x-ray sources; Pump lasers; Resonance; X-ray lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/27.8953

Filename

8953