Abstract

We report simultaneous amplification of H-like Na and F Balmer-α lines (wavelengths of 5.42 and 8.10 nm, respectively) with a gain–length product of ~4. A 30-J, 20-ps, 0.53-μm laser pulse was line focused onto a 6.3-mm-long, 50-μm-wide, and 400-nm-thick (NaF) stripe target at an irradiance of 5 × 10¹⁴ W/cm². The time- and space-integrated gain coefficients measured with cross-calibrated on- and off-axis spectrometers are 5.9 cm⁻¹ for both Na and F Balmer-α lines. The space-resolved on-axis spectrometers show that the spatial peak intensity of the F line is located 50–200 μm from the original target surface, while that of Na is 0–100 μm away, which agrees qualitatively with the hydrodynamic calculations. The fine-structure intensity ratio of an amplified F line was also measured with a high-resolution spectrometer with a resolving power of greater than 2100.

© 1994 Optical Society of America

Short-pulse pumping of a recombination Balmer-α laser of hydrogenic sodium

H. Azuma, Y. Kato, K. Yamakawa, T. Tachi, M. Nishio, H. Shiraga, S. Nakai, S. A. Ramsden, G. J. Pert, and S. J. Rose
Opt. Lett. 15(18) 1011-1013 (1990)

Lasing properties of the J = 0–1 and the J = 2–1 lines of a neonlike germanium soft-x-ray laser

K. Murai, H. Shiraga, G. Yuan, H. Daido, H. Azuma, E. Miura, R. Kodama, M. Takagi, T. Kanabe, H. Takabe, Y. Kato, D. Neely, D. M. O’Neill, C. L. S. Lewis, and A. Djaoui
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 11(11) 2287-2297 (1994)

Observation of broad gain regions in recombination-pumped soft-x-ray lasers using fiber-array targets

Tsuneyuki Ozaki and Hiroto Kuroda
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 14(12) 3437-3441 (1997)

Space-resolved observation of false gain in soft-x-ray lasers

Tsuneyuki Ozaki and Hiroto Kuroda
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 13(9) 1873-1878 (1996)

Soft-x-ray amplification at 50.3 Å in nickellike ytterbium

B. J. MacGowan, S. Maxon, C. J. Keane, R. A. London, D. L. Matthews, and D. A. Whelan
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 5(9) 1858-1863 (1988)