NI-LIKE COLLISIONAL LASERS USING MODERATE POWER LASER DRIVERS

The hydrodynamic behavior of a Ta exploding foil using a double pulse in order to achieve favorable conditions for a Ni-like collisional x-T ay laser with moderate driver energy have been examined in detail. It is shown that plasma conditions required for high gain lasing can be p roduced with X4 reduced laser power as compared with Maxon's scheme [P hys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2285 (1993)], provided that the second pulse is co rrectly timed and is delivered before transparency of the target to th e incident laser light. This makes water window x-ray lasers within th e reach of many moderately sized laser installations.