Investigation on the application of the capillary-discharge based metal-vapor generator and the 46.9 nm Ar capillary-discharge soft X-ray laser

Summary form only given. Here we report on the possible application of the capillary-discharge based plasma sources. Two different types of sources were investigated. In the first of them 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 /spl mu/s discharges. High-density (>10/sup 19/ cm/sup -3/), pure, small diameter (1-6 mm), long (5-20 cm) metal-vapor columns have been produced. The application of the developed metal-vapor generator for the Z-scaling of the Ne-like soft X-ray laser is expected. The possibility of utilization of the sub-milliradiant divergence Ne-like Ar capillary-discharge soft X-ray laser for different application, which involves mainly nano-technology and nano-machining, is also discussed.