Abstract

The gain achieved in lasing to the ground state following short-pulse field ionization by a pump laser is highly transient. It will usually persist for only tens of picoseconds because of the rapid filling and negligible emptying of the ground state. Employing a detailed atomic model of lasing in hydrogen, we show that the removal of ground-state population by an appropriate broadband ionizing radiation field can enhance and prolong the gain in such a laser.

© 1996 Optical Society of America

Photoionization lasers pumped by broadband soft-x-ray flux from laser-produced plasmas

W. T. Silfvast and O. R. Wood
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 4(4) 609-618 (1987)

X-ray laser studies of recombining lithium plasmas created by optical field ionization

K. M. Krushelnick, W. Tighe, and S. Suckewer
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 13(2) 306-311 (1996)

Rydberg x-ray laser based on inner-electron optical-field ionization

R. B. Vrijen and L. D. Noordam
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 13(1) 189-196 (1996)

Experimental and theoretical investigation of recombination-pumped x-ray lasers driven by high-intensity, short-pulse lasers

T. D. Donnelly, L. Da Silva, R. W. Lee, S. Mrowka, M. Hofer, and R. W. Falcone
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 13(1) 185-188 (1996)

Soft-x-ray spectroscopy of subpicosecond laser-produced plasmas

K. M. Krushelnick, W. Tighe, and S. Suckewer
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 13(2) 395-401 (1996)