X-ray lasers as sources for resonance-fluorescence experiments

1432-0649

42.55.Vc ; 32.30.Rj ; 52.70

Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000

Physics

Abstract We point out that existing Ne-like X-ray lasers have sufficient brightness to be used as pump sources in resonant pump-fluorescence experiments, and we discuss some of the potential benefits and limitations of such experiments. In preliminary experiments, we have measured the line overlap of the Ne-like yttrium X-ray laser near 155 Å with 4f−3d transitions in H-like Na and He-like Mg. These experiments used a high-resolution grating spectrometer, and calibrated the wavelength of the yttrium laser by comparison against lines of known wavelength. The results indicate that the wavelength of the yttrium laser is 154.985 ± 0.025 Å, a factor of 2–4 improvement in precision over previous calibrations. We find that the yttrium laser is ≈ 100 mÅ to the long-wavelength side of both the He-like Mg line and the H-like Na line, so that neither resonance is perfect; however, Stark broadening could improve the overlap in the latter scheme, and bulk Doppler shifting could improve both resonances. We also find a good resonance between the yttrium laser and an un-identified transition which we tentatively attribute to copper.

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