Photoionization-pumping of sodium vapor with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory soft-x-ray laser.

We propose to construct an inner-shell photoionization laser in sodium at 37.2 nm by photoionizing sodium vapor with the 20.6 and 20.9 nm outputs from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) soft-x-ray laser. Pumping a 10 cm long cell filled with sodium vapor at 1 Torr with the 1 mJ, 175 psec duration, pulse from the LLNL Se laser should result in a gain- length product in excess of 16. This would lead to an intense pulse of amplified spontaneous emission at 37.2 nm.