Hollow screw pinch pump sources for Na-Ne X-ray lasers

Summary form only given, as follows. Recently, population inversion in the resonantly photopumped Na-Ne X-ray laser system was demonstrated at Sandia National Laboratories using a Ne gas cell pumped by a Na Z-pinch at a separation of 2 cm. In this work we consider a screw pinch configuration which offers the promise of enhanced geometrical coupling between pump and lasant. The dynamics and stability of a hollow, annular screw pinch Na plasma formed by simultaneous pulsing of an exterior azimuthal and an interior axial magnetic field is examined through both 0-D and 1-D models. The scaling of the pump radiation field expected on an interior Ne lasant with density and stagnation radius of the exterior pinch will be presented.