Demonstration of a discharge pumped table-top soft x-ray laser

Abstract

We report the first observation of large soft X-ray amplification (g 1 = 7.2) in a discharge created plasma. A fast, approx.40kA current pulse from a compact discharge was used to excite plasma columns up to 12 cm in length in 4mm channels, producing population inversion in the J = 0-1 line of Ne-like Ar and resulting in a gain of 0.6 cm-1 at 46.9nm.