title: Soft x-ray lasers and their applications.
abstract: The emerging technology of soft x-ray lasers has novel applications to microscopy, lithography, and other fields. This article describes the status of soft x-ray laser research with the aim of bringing the rapid developments in this field to the attention of potential users in other disciplines. The different techniques for generating a population inversion and producing a soft x-ray laser are reviewed. The status of current research in the field and the near-term prospects are described. It is expected that the range of potential applications of soft x-ray lasers will increase as their performance improves. Work aimed at increasing the output power and progressing to shorter wavelengths with these devices is also reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory, NJ 08543.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suckewer
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Skinner
mesh_terms: D006367:HeLa Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D014965:X-Rays