Plasma soft x‐ray source generated by 4‐ns excimer laser pulses

A XeCl excimer laser system is described which generates short‐duration (4 ns) pulses of up to 980 mJ in energy. Pulses of 800 mJ have been focused to an intensity of ∼2×1012 W cm−2 on an iron target to produce soft x rays. Measurements of x rays in the 0.8–1.4‐keV range have demonstrated 44 mJ energy per pulse into 2π sr, and a pulse width of 5.3 ns (FWHM). The estimated laser to x‐ray energy conversion efficiency was ∼5.5%.