We will describe our optical laser pumped xuv Laser Program. To date, we have concentrated our efforts on exploding foil amplifier designs using Ne-like n=3p to 3s inversion schemes. We will describe our latest modeling results as well as measurements which demonstrate output power near the 1 MW level at 206 and 209 A and lasing at wavelengths as short as 106 A.

The principal source of negative ion generation in hydrogen discharges is now recognized to be low-energy electron attachment to H/sub 2/(/nu//prime//prime/) molecules excited to the middle portion of the vibrational spectrum. Electron excitation processes are generally taken to be the principal source of H/sub 2/(/nu//prime//prime/) generation, with high-energy excitations through the singlet spectrum being the principal excitation process populating the active portion of the vibrational spectrum. A description of the collisional re-excitation from level /nu//prime//prime/, to level /nu//prime//prime/, requires 15 /times/ 15 matrix of cross sections linking all initial and final levels. These cross sections have been evaluated and incorporated into the modelling code. An additional source of vibrational excitation may be derived from recombination of H/sub 2//sup +/ and H/sub 3//sup +/ ions on the surfaces of the discharge. In this case the molecular ions will impinge with kinetic energies given by the plasma potential, 1--10 eV. In this paper we report the evaluation of H/sub 2/(/nu//prime//prime/) resulting from the surface recombination process. The use of low-work-function materials for the discharge surfaces makes possible two additional source of negative ions: the direct formation of negative ions by hydrogen atoms rebounding from the surface, and the dissociation of H/sub 2//sup …

The emittance of the beams in both high energy, electron-positron colliders and synchrotron light sources is limited by collective beam interactions with the structure of the damping (or storage) rings. A novel linear damper offers the possibility of reducing the emittance by another factor of a few. The underlying physical principle is that high energy, high current, low emittance beams can emit copious hard gammas as synchrotron radiation and cool in the presence of megagauss magnetic fields. These fields can be provided by the beam itself in the presence of a low density gas.

Studies of laminar shocks based on ISEE observations of terrestrial bow shocks, simulation, and theory are presented.