just got back from a laser-related seminar

[ixfd64]

I just got back from a seminar hosted by some people from the Colorado State University. They were talking about how plasma could generate XUV/soft X-ray lasers, which could potentially have many applications. It was an interesting presentation!

Oh yeah, I asked the guy whether he burned stuff for fun. He said he didn't but he did have a friend who bought from Wicked Lasers. : I told him about LPF, though.

 

[Benm]

Somehow i'm getting worried when people might start pointing arround with burning x-ray lasers

 

[Cyparagon]

Plasma as in one electron stripped, or as in all electrons stripped? My plasma (ion) laser only lases down to 457nm.

 

[Benm]

If it's x-rays from electronic transitions lasing by some means, count on many electrons stripped. X-rays mean over 100 electronvolts of energy (and up to 100 keV or so).

First ionization energies go up to 20 eV or so for the noble gasses, so get in range of x-ray energies for transitions between orbitals, you'd have to remove considerably more.

 

[ixfd64]

I think they were talking about stripping multiple electrons. They said that using certain elements could produce wavelengths as short as 13 nm or so.