Optimum electron temperature and density for short-wavelength plasma-lasing from nickel-like ions

Soft X-ray lasing across a Ni-like plasma gain-medium requires optimum electron temperature and density for attaining to the Ni-like ion stage and for population inversion in the 3d94d1(J=0)→3d94p1(J=1) laser transition. Various scaling laws, function of operating parameters, were compared with respect to their predictions for optimum temperatures and densities. It is shown that the widely adopted local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) model underestimates the optimum plasma-lasing conditions. On the other hand, non-LTE models, especially when complemented with dielectronic recombination, provided accurate prediction of the optimum plasma-lasing conditions. It is further shown that, for targets with Z   equal or greater than the rare-earth elements (e.g. Sm), the optimum electron density for plasma-lasing is not accessible for pump-pulses at λ=1ω=1μm. This observation explains a fundamental difficulty in saturating the wavelength of plasma-based X-ray lasers below 6.8 nm, unless using 2ω2ω pumping.