Charge exchange recombination x-ray laser

A recombining plasma x-ray laser using charge exchange recombination (CXR) is proposed. Fully stripped carbon ions collide with neutral He atoms and become excited hydrogenlike carbon ions, in which the excited levels with n=3 or 4 are mainly populated. We calculate the gain coefficients of the Balmer α and the Lyman β line of the hydrogenlike carbon ions by the use of a collisional-radiative model in which the CXR process is included. The calculated result shows that substantial gain can be generated for the Lyman β and Balmer α lines and that the gain of the Balmer α line can be strongly enhanced by the effect of CXR. We also report a preliminary experiment of this scheme. (author)