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Achievement of the Saturation Limit and Energy Extraction in a Discharge Pumped Table-Top Soft X-ray Amplifier

J. J. Rocca, D. P. Clark, J. L. A. Chilla, and V. N. Shlyaptsev, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo.

Amajor goal in ultrashort wavelength laser research is the development of compact "table-top" amplifiers capable of generating soft X-ray pulses of substantial energy that can impact applications. Such development motivates the demonstration of gain media generated by compact devices, that can be successfully scaled in length to reach gain saturation. At this condition, which occurs when the laser intensity reaches the saturation intensity, a large fraction of the energy stored in the laser's upper level can be extracted. To date, gain saturation had only been achieved in a few soft X-ray laser transitions in plasmas generated by some of the world's largest laser facilities.