Development of small scale soft x-ray lasers

At present rapid progress is being made in the application of soft x-ray lasers to fields such as microscopy and microlithography. A critical factor in the range of suitable applications is the scale and hence cost of the soft x-ray lasers. At Princeton, gain at 183{angstrom} has been obtained with relatively low pump laser energies (as low as 6J) in a portable'' small-scale soft x-ray laser system. We will also discuss aspects of data interpretation and pitfalls to be avoided in measurements of gain in such systems. 14 refs., 7 figs.