High repetition rate tabletop soft X-ray lasers with saturated output at wavelengths down to 13.2 nm

The importance of x-ray laser sources capable of producing high average powers in the development of metrology and processing tools for industry is described. Different x-ray lasing schemes reduce the necessary pump energy and enable high repetition rate laser operation in laser-created plasmas at shorter wavelengths. X-ray lasers at 5 Hz repetition rate produce microwatt average powers at wavelengths ranging from 13.2 to 32.6 nm in transitions of Ni-like and Ne-like ions. The use of table-top source is found to be feasible in developing high average power laser beams in the 100 eV spectral region for various applications.