ABSTRACT
F. Yan, J. Zhang, X. Lu Laboratory of Optical Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100080, People's Republic of China
J.Y. Zhong National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, People's Republic of China
Abstract. The Ni-like Ag x-ray laser at 13.9nm (4d~Mp, J=0-1) is numerically studied, using one-dimensional hydrodynamic code coupled with the Cowan atomic data package. High gain (>150cm_1) is predicted using a lps, 1015w/cm2 main drive pulse proceeded by a 2ns, 6x10nW/cm2 prepulse with a temporal separation of 1.0ns between these two pulses. 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. The effects of refraction and saturation on the propagation of the x-ray laser in the plasma medium are also investigated by using a twodimensional ray tracing code. We predict that a saturated Ni-like Ag soft x-ray laser at 13.9 nm could possibly be generated using an energy of several joules under the optimized drive configuration. These results contribute to the further understanding of Ni-like x-ray lasers.
