X-ray lasers for imaging and plasma diagnostics

Collisionally pumped soft x‐ray lasers now operate over a wavelength range extending from 35–350 A. These well characterized sources have high peak brightness (Gev blackbody temperature) and narrow bandwidth making them ideal for x‐ray imaging and interferometry. The yttrium neon‐like x‐ray laser operating at 155 A has already been used to image directly driven foils with 1–2 μm spatial resolution and probe plasmas at electron densities approaching 1022 cm−3 with moire deflectrometry. Advances in multilayer mirrors and beam splitters have now also made it possible to develop x‐ray laser interferometers. We will describe initial experiments to develop x‐ray laser interferometry for probing plasmas relevant to ICF.