Demonstration of a 10-µJ tabletop laser at 52.9 nm in neonlike chlorine

We report the demonstration of laser amplification at 52.9 nm in Ne-like Cl with a compact capillary discharge. Laser output pulses with energies of as much as 10 µJ have been obtained. The beam divergence was approximately 4 mrad. This new 23.4-eV tabletop laser is of particular interest for applications that require high peak fluxes of photons with energy slightly below the He photoionization threshold.