Time-resolved pinhole images of a discharge-created capillary plasma dedicated to soft X-ray amplification

Time evolution of the spatial distribution of radiation emitted by an ablat ive discharge-created plasma in a polyethylene capillary has been investiga ted to study the feasibility of soft X-ray amplification. Time resolved ima ges of the plasma have been obtained using a pinhole camera device, for dif ferent spectral ranges from VUV to soft X-ray. The different phases of the plasma evolution (ionisation, ablation, cooling) were observed and yielded hints to optimise the discharge system for soft X-ray lasing at 18.2 nm.