Abstract

The central problem to the realization of a gamma-ray laser is the identification of a proper material from a slate of 29 candidates. The ultimate success of our pump schemes involving flash x rays will require investigation of the nuclear properties of those materials that are analogous to the kinetics of a conventional laser medium. The methodology to be used is the nuclear analog of the optical double resonance studies which yielded much of the laser grade data base on which rest the newer visible and UV lasers. Essential for success is the accessibility of a source of pulses of x rays of nanosecond duration that can emit a total of 1 J per keV of linewidth in a reasonably brief working period. Either laser plasmas or large e-beam machines can do this in a single shot, each of which requires about an hour of laboratory time to prepare; but costs are very high. As a result, none of these traditional light sources for the subangstrom region could be used to complete an evaluation of the 29 materials before the turn of the century. This paper reports recent success in demonstrating a compact flash x-ray device producing 150 mW of average power isotropically from 10-ns pulses at energies near 15 keV. At this level we produce a photon flux that is only 1 order of magnitude lower than the design objective of the Advanced (Synchrotron) Light Source. These results imply that a flash x-ray device of reasonably larger scale will support the screening of the gamma-ray laser materials in a timely manner.

© 1986 Optical Society of America