Recent progress in coherent XUV generation at RAL

The research into coherent XUV generation has made considerable progress since the first X-ray laser was demonstrated over a decade ago. Progress has been made in three diverse areas: XUV lasers, harmonics from gases and, more recently, harmonics from solid targets. We report the first demonstration of saturation in nickel-like X-ray lasers with conversion efficiencies of >10−6. We will also report on the generation of high yield, high order harmonics from gases and solids. In gases conversion efficiencies of >10−6 and harmonics as short as 6.7 nm were observed. Solid harmonics were demonstrated at very high yields (10−4–10−6) and very high orders (up to the 75th) using irradiances on target of up to 1019 Wcm−2 μm2.