Characteristics of a Ne-like Ar 46.9-nm soft X-ray laser in capillary discharge at a low Ar pressure

A capillary discharge-pumped Ne-like Ar 46.9-nm soft X-ray laser at a low Ar pressure (28-46 Pa) is proven. To our knowledge, this is the first time an XRD laser output in the condition of the low threshold of a main-current pulse spike (20-21 kA) is demonstrated. The Al2O3 ceramic capillary tube is 20 cm in length (Mo electrode is 4 cm in length) and 3 mm in diameter. The maximum laser energy of the precalibrated XRD is 3.5 mu J. The maximum gain coefficient g = 0.46 cm(-1), the maximum gain-length product is 8.28, the beam divergence is 5.4 mrad, and the laser pulse width is 1.65 ns. In addition, the results show that the laser plasma column became difficult to Z-pinch with a increasing Ar pressure, its Z-pinching state of a higher Ar pressure fluctuates more intensely than that of a lower pressure by analyzing the scattering of the delay time between the pre-and main-current pulse.