Demonstration of high-repetition-rate tabletop soft-x-ray lasers with saturated output at wavelengths down to13.9nmand gain down to10.9nm

Abstract

Saturated tabletop lasers operating at $5\mathrm{Hz}$ repetition rate with average powers $>1\mu \mathrm{W}$ were demonstrated at wavelengths between 16.5 and $13.9\mathrm{nm}$ in the $4d{}^{1}S_0–4p{}^{1}P_1$ transitions of Ni-like ions. The results were obtained using picosecond laser heating pulses with an energy of only $1\mathrm{J}$ by optimizing the angle of incidence for maximum energy deposition. Lasing was also observed for shorter wavelength transitions of the same isoelectronic sequence, with amplification in the $11.9\mathrm{nm}$ line of Ni-like Sn approaching gain saturation, and progressively reduced gain for wavelengths as low as $10.9\mathrm{nm}$ for Ni-like Te. These high repetition rate soft x-ray lasers will enable new applications in science and the development of unique metrology and processing tools for industry.