INVESTIGATIONS OF A NEW INNER-SHELL PHOTOIONIZATION LASER AT 165 NM IN THE MERCURY ION

By inner-shell photoionization of Hg vapor with soft x rays from a laser-produced plasma, the energetically high-lying metastable 5d96s2 levels in the Hg ion are selectively populated and a two-photon inversion with respect to the ion ground state (configuration 5d106s) is generated. The metastable population is then transferred with dye-laser radiation at 399 nm to the 5d106p level, resulting in a strong radiative emission at 165 nm into the ion ground state. For this anti-Stokes-Raman-type pumping scheme evidence for stimulated processes is found.