Saturated and near-diffraction-limited operation of an XUV laser at 23.6 nm

A. Carillon; H. Z. Chen; P. Dhez; L. Dwivedi; J. Jacoby; P. Jaegle; G. Jamelot; Jie Zhang; M. H. Key; A. Kidd; A. Klisnick; R. Kodama; J. Krishnan; C. L. S. Lewis; D. Neely; P. Norreys; D. O’Neill; G. J. Pert; S. A. Ramsden; J. P. Raucourt; G. J. Tallents; J. Uhomoibhi

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.2917

Saturated and near-diffraction-limited operation of an XUV laser at 23.6 nm

A. Carillon, H. Z. Chen, P. Dhez, L. Dwivedi, J. Jacoby, P. Jaegle, G. Jamelot, Jie Zhang, M. H. Key, A. Kidd, A. Klisnick, R. Kodama, J. Krishnan, C. L. S. Lewis, D. Neely, P. Norreys, D. O’Neill, G. J. Pert, S. A. Ramsden, J. P. Raucourt, G. J. Tallents, and J. Uhomoibhi

Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 2917 – Published 11 May 1992

Abstract

Amplification of spontaneous emission (ASE) at 23.6 nm has been studied in a Ge plasma heated by a 1 TW infrared laser pulse. The exponent of the axial gain reached 21 in a geometry with Fresnel number ≤1. Two plasma columns of combined length up to 36 mm were used with an extreme ultraviolet mirror giving double-pass amplification. Saturation of the ASE output was observed. The beam divergence was about 8× diffraction limited with a brightness estimated at $10^{14}$ W ${cm}^{- 2}$ ${sr}^{- 1}$ . The feedback from the mirror was significantly reduced probably by radiation damage from the plasma.

Received 21 August 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.2917

Authors & Affiliations

A. Carillon, H. Z. Chen, P. Dhez, L. Dwivedi, J. Jacoby, P. Jaegle, G. Jamelot, Jie Zhang, M. H. Key, A. Kidd, A. Klisnick, R. Kodama, J. Krishnan, C. L. S. Lewis, D. Neely, P. Norreys, D. O’Neill, G. J. Pert, S. A. Ramsden, J. P. Raucourt, G. J. Tallents, and J. Uhomoibhi

Central Laser Facility, SERC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, United Kingdom
Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3EU, United Kingdom
Department of Physics, University of York, York YO1 5DD, United Kingdom
Department of Physics, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom
Department of Physics, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, United Kingdom
Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Queens University of Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Laboratoire de Spectroscopie Atomique et Ioniques, Universite de Paris-Sud, Bâtiment 350, 91405 Orsay, France