Imploding Plasma X-ray Laser Research

During this past year, neon-like krypton plasmas have been studied on the Defense Nuclear Agency PITHON generator operating as a collisionally pumped x-ray laser system. This report describes improvements made in plasma formation, simultaneity, and linearity, spatially resolved measurements of the plasma electron temperature and density, and progress made in the line identification of highly ionized krypton lines in the XUV region where the lasing lines are predicted to occur. Also, the appendices describe the large x-ray diagnostic setup for these experiments and the theory and method of predicted x-ray laser transitions and the small signal gains expected in the inverted transitions.