A Z-pinch neonlike X-ray laser

A scheme using neonlike krypton ions is under intensive theoretical and experimental investigation to determine the feasibility of developing a pulsed power-driven laboratory X-ray laser. The scheme depends on discharging hundreds of kilojoules of electrical energy through coaxial cylindrical krypton gas puffs, generating a dense, hot, uniform, homogeneous, and highly ionized krypton plasma. The dynamics of energy absorption are such that self-generated magnetic fields compress and accelerate radially inward the outer plasma with speeds approaching 5×10⁷ cm/s. When the outer plasma impinges and stagnates on the inner plasma, shock waves are sent through the system as the plasma reverberates and bounces outward. Near the interface between the two interacting plasmas and along the axis, conditions appear to be conducive to the establishment of a population inversion with the subsequent emission of coherent soft X-rays with measurable gain. The results of numerical simulations support the notion that it is theoretically possible to achieve a population inversion and gain in three of the lasing lines provided that the appropriate plasma conditions are realized