Simulations of Al XIII–Fe XXIV X-ray laser photopumping scheme

Abstract Calculations of the modal photon densities and gain in a photopumped H-like Al–Li-like Fe X-ray laser scheme are presented. Previous simulations of this scheme using a zero-dimensional model took only the Al Ly- α 2 pumping radiation into account. Here we undertake a more realistic simulation of the generation of both Al and Fe plasmas using a high-power optical laser, which includes both Ly- α 2 and Ly- α 1 radiation from the H-like Al ions pumping 2s 1/2 –5p 1/2 and 2s 1/2 –5p 3/2 transitions in Li-like Fe. In this paper, we present two-dimensional calculations in a realistic geometry taking plasma gradients into account. Information about the spatial extent and time evolution of gain on the 5–4 transitions in Li-like Fe is presented.