Demonstration of a transient-gain nickel-like xenon-ion X-ray laser

Lu, P.; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Kishimoto, Maki; Sukegawa, Kota*; Tanaka, Momoko; Hasegawa, Noboru; Suzuki, Masayuki; Tai, R.; Kado, Masataka; Nagashima, Keisuke; Daido, Hiroyuki; Kato, Yoshiaki ; Fiedorowicz, H.*; Bartnik, A.*

We demonstrate a high gain nickel-like xenon ion x-ray laser using a gas puff target. The elongated x-ray laser plasma column was produced by irradiating the gas puff target with line-focused double picosecond laser pulses with a total energy of 18 J in a travelling-wave excitation scheme. Strong lasing at 9.98 nm was observed, and a high gain coefficient of 17.4 1/cm was measured on the transient collisionally excited 4d ミ 4p, J=0-1 transition for nickel-like xenon ion with target lengths up to 0.45 cm long. A weak nickel-like lasing line at a shorter wavelength of 9.64 nm was also observed with a gain coefficient of 5.9 1/cm.