Effects of Plasma Dynamics on Lasing in Fast Capillary Discharge

Abstract

The timing, intensity, and pulse width of lasing signals in fast capillary discharge plasma at a strong 2p53p–2p53s transition of Ne-like Ar are experimentally investigated. To clarify the lasing mechanism, the results are compared with those obtained by numerical calculation using a one-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) simulation code. The comparison indicates that the lasing occurs when a cylindrically imploding shock wave arrives at the axis of the capillary and it depends not only on the electron density and temperature but also strongly on the effects of time-varying refraction and the opacity of the pinching plasma.