Nearly Monochromatic Lasing at 182 Å in Neonlike Selenium.

The {ital J}=0{r_arrow}1,3{ital p}{r_arrow}3{ital s} transition at 182 A in neonlike selenium is observed to completely dominate the lasing output, as predicted but never observed before this work. Instead of a single long pulse we use a series of short 100 ps pulses from the Nova laser to illuminate slab targets of selenium. The 182 A line is more than an order of magnitude brighter than the usual 206 and 209 A laser lines. Similar behavior is observed for neonlike ions of germanium, zinc, and nickel.