X-ray laser cavity based on multiple pulse laser excitation of capillary discharge

The basic concept of the multiple-pulse heating experiment is as follows. An ambient plasma, which has a low temperature (< 10 eV) and high density (> 1019 cm-3), is formed from a rectangular slot in a capillary discharge. This plasma, moving at ∼ 2 x 106 cm/s, exists out of a 1-cm long, 200-μm wide slit. Next, a high-energy Q-switched laser in a cylindrical focusing geometry is used to irradiate the ambient plasma. This creates a rectangular parallelepiped of laser-heated plasma. The geometry, initial conditions, and versatility of this source are suited to the generation of amplified soft x-ray lasing along the 1-cm length