Abstract

High-intensity, broadband soft-x-ray and extreme-ultraviolet radiation produced by focusing 1.06-μm and 10.6-μm lasers onto solid targets has been used to efficiently pump inner-shell transitions in Cd (Ref. 1) and Zn vapor to produce lasers at 325, 442, and 748 nm. Gains as high as 40 cm⁻¹ and inversion densities greater than 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ have been obtained in vapors of these metals at pressures ranging from 1 to 10 Torr. Using tunable lasers to transfer the population from the photoionization pumped laser levels to higher-lying levels, stimulated emission has been observed at 231, 257, and 275 nm. The use of double-transfer techniques should allow the generation of lasers as short as 120 nm in Cd.

© 1984 Optical Society of America