LASING AT 60.8 NM IN NE-LIKE SULFUR IONS IN ABLATED MATERIAL EXCITED BY A CAPILLARY DISCHARGE

We report the observation of discharge-pumped extreme ultraviolet lasi ng in collisionally excited ions of a material ablated from a solid ta rget. Excitation of sulfur plasmas by a capillary discharge resulted i n amplification of the J = 0-1 line of Ne-like sulfur at 60.8 nm, with a gain coefficient of 0.45 cm(-1) and a gain-length product of 7.5. O verheating of the electron temperature and transient population effect s are computed to make a significant contribution to the measured gain .