Temporal and spectral analysis of capillary-discharge-pumped Ar⁸⁺ lasers

Abstract

We measure temporal and spectral characteristics of soft X-ray lasers based on capillary discharge, employing flat-field and Rowland spectrographs for analyzing the spectrum of a Ne-like Ar soft Xray laser and a monochromator for analyzing its temporal behavior on the 46.9 nm laser line. The monochromator provides the time resolution for a single wavelength; therefore, the pulse width and the onset time of the laser pulse can be reliably measured. In spite of the fact that the flat field spectrograph is relatively difficult to adjust (due to the long distance between the entrance slit and the grating), we obtained a fine spectrum with a fairly high precision. In contrast, the Rowland spectrograph is widely used, easily adjusted, and provides instantaneously visible results, but its detection precision is just between that of the monochromator and the flat-field spectrograph. Each of these three types of devices is characterized by its own strong point for the accurate detection and study of the spectrum of a Ne-like Ar laser at J = 0− 1 and wavelength 46.9 nm.