2-DIMENSIONAL SPATIAL IMAGING OF THE MULTIPLE-PULSE-DRIVEN 196-ANGSTROM NEON-LIKE GERMANIUM X-RAY LASER

W present two-dimensional, high-resolution, spatial images of the 196- Angstrom laser emission from the output aperture of a neonlike germani um laser which is created by illuminating a slab target with a series of short 100-ps pulses from the Nova laser. Simulations of the gain wh ich are propagated through the plasma density gradients to calculate t he spatial distribution of the laser intensity are compared with the e xperiments and show good agreement. The importance of refraction in th e propagation calculation manifests itself in the laser intensity peak ing 150 mu m from the target surface, even though the gain peaks 50 to 60 mu m from the target surface.