Capillary discharge based metal and dielectric vapor generator for x-ray capillary lasers

Summary form only given, as follows. We report on the simple technique of the production of ablative plasmas utilizing experimental set-up with open-geometry capillaries. The plasma was produced inside the capillary between a cathode and a hollow anode by the explosive ablation of electrode material in the high-current list discharges. The capillary consisted of a dielectric cylinder having a channel of different dimensions. Several types of capillary and electrode materials were used. High-density (> 10/sup 19/ cm/sup -3/), pure, small diameter (1-6 mm), long (5-20 cm) metal-vapor columns have been produced. Several methods of plasma diagnostics were utilized. The application of the developed metal-vapor generator for the Z-scaling of the Ne-like soft x-ray laser, recently realized by our group, is expected.