title: Pulse-front tilt for short-wavelength lasing by means of traveling-wave plasma-excitation.
abstract: Generation of coherent short-wavelength radiation across a plasma column is dramatically improved under traveling-wave excitation (TWE). The latter is optimized when its propagation is close to the speed of light, which implies small-angle target-irradiation. Yet, short-wavelength lasing needs large irradiation angles in order to increase the optical penetration of the pump into the plasma core. Pulse-front back-tilt is considered to overcome such trade-off. In fact, the TWE speed depends on the pulse-front slope (envelope of amplitude), whereas the optical penetration depth depends on the wave-front slope (envelope of phase). Pulse-front tilt by means of compressor misalignment was found effective only if coupled with a high-magnification front-end imaging/focusing component. It is concluded that speed matching should be accomplished with minimal compressor misalignment and maximal imaging magnification.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. bleiner@iap.unibe.ch
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bleiner
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Feurer