Demonstration of a neonlike argon soft-x-ray laser with a picosecond-laser-irradiated gas puff target

We demonstrate a neonlike argon-ion x-ray laser, using a short-pulse laser-irradiated gas puff target. The gas puff target was formed by pulsed injection of gas from a high-pressure solenoid valve through a nozzle in the form of a narrow slit and irradiated with a combination of long, 600-ps and short, 6-ps high-power laser pulses with a total of 10 J of energy in a traveling-wave excitation scheme. Lasing was observed on the 3p (1)S(0)?3s (1)P(1) transition at 46.9 nm and the 3d (1)P(1)?3p (1)P(1) transition at 45.1 nm. A gain of 11 cm(-1) was measured on these transitions for targets up to 0.9 cm long.