ABSTRACT
Here the Ni-like Ag x-ray laser at 13.9 nm (4d->4p, J=0->1) is simulated to calculate the laser-plasma interaction and gain coefficient, using a one-dimensional Lagrangian hydrodynamic code MEDUSA [2], coupled with an atomic physics code and a ray-tracing code. The energy levels, radiative rates and collsional pump rates of Ni-like Ag ions used in the x-ray laser simulations are calculated using the Cowan code [3] in orbital-spin (LS) coupling. High gain (>150cm_1) is predicted using a lps, 1015W/cm2 main drive pulse proceeded by a 2 ns, 6><10nW/cm2 prepulse with a temporal separation of 1.0 ns between these two pulses, as shown in Fig. 3. The characteristics of the x-ray laser, including the evolution of gain in time and space, the electron temperature and the electron density obtained using the optimized drive configuration is investigated.
