POPULATION-INVERSION IN A DISCHARGE PLASM A WITH NECK-TYPE INSTABILITIES

An analysis is made of the feasibility of using strong plasma outflow from focus-type constrictions of an axial-discharge plasma column. Sel ective ion recombination as a result of charge transfer with ions carr ying a smaller charge in the main plasma column or with neutral atoms in the residual gas in the discharge chamber can create a population i nversion for transitions in the soft x-ray and VUV parts of the spectr um. General problems encountered in the investigated system are discus sed and quantitative estimates are obtained of the population inversio n of levels participating in the 4 --> 3 transitions in Li-like oxygen ions formed, with the effective charge Z = 6, in pinch discharges wit h pulsed gas admission and a current of several hundreds of kiloampere s.