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The X-Ray Laser
| Article
# : |
17600 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1990 |
1,589 Words |
| Author
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Ada Suckewer and Szymon Suckewer
Ada Suckewer is a biochemist with PXL, Inc., in Princeton
Corporate Plaza. Szymon Suckewer is professor of mechanical
and aerospace engineering at Princeton University and head of
the X-ray laser project of the Princeton Plasma Physics
Laboratory. |
In March of 1983, when President Reagan announced plans for using X-ray lasers in the Strategic Defense Initiative, X-ray laser research suddenly emerged at the center of attention of both scientists and politicians. Yet research in this area had begun more than 20 years earlier, almost at the time the first visible (ruby) laser was developed in 1960.
The first lasers found almost no immediate commercial applications - the laser was an "orphan" technology. However, within 30 years, lasers have penetrated every segment of our life, from supermarkets to medicine, telecommunications, and scientific research, making our world considerably more comfortable, efficient, and sophisticated.
Since the beginning stages of laser technology, the creation of lasers with a shorter wavelength has been a well-recognized goal. Scientists foresaw that the development of a reliable, cost-effective source of coherent X-rays could open new frontiers in both scientific research and commercial applications.
While the visible light lasers found revolutionary applications during the seventies and particularly the eighties, development of the X-ray laser proved to be a slow and tedious process. Not only the generation of coherent X-rays but also their manipulation, control, and detection required new technological solutions. This need arose because the short wavelengths and high energies of X-rays could not be effectively handled by the existing optical technology used for visible light lasers. The new X-ray optics included multilayer X-ray mirrors, for amplification within the resonant cavity, and zone plate lenses, for focusing.
In addition to the development of X-ray optics technology, the realization of the X-ray laser was greatly aided by two other fields of study: fusion and microfabrication. To understand these contributions, it is helpful to realize that the X-ray laser is a gas laser, or more appropriately a plasma laser, because the "gas" is composed of electrically charged particles -electrons and ions. In the X-ray laser, radiation is produced by a plasma contained in a high magnetic field. Both the X-ray laser and fusion require precise control of a suitable plasma. In particular, the new understanding gained in fusion studies of the behavior of plasmas in a high magnetic field was essential to the development of the X-ray laser. The field of microfabrication provided the thrust toward ever smaller circuitry and one of the strong driving forces for the development of the X-ray laser.
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