Demonstration of a 1 mW average power, 7 Hz table-top soft X-ray laser

Summary form only given. High average power beams of soft X-ray coherent radiation can in principle also be generated with compact devices using either nonlinear optical techniques for frequency up-conversion of optical laser radiation, or the direct amplification of spontaneous emission in a plasma (an X-ray laser). Soft X-ray lasers have the advantage of a high energy per pulse and therefore the potential to produce very high average powers. Soft X-ray lasers pumped by large optical lasers of the type used in fusion research have generated output pulse energies of up to several mJ.