Using the prepulse technique, soft-x-ray lasing is demonstrated on the J equals 0 - 1 transitions of neon-like titanium, chromium, and iron at 32.6, 28.5, and 25.5 nm, respectively, and on the J equals 2 - 1 transitions of copper, zinc, and germanium at 27.9/28.5, 26.2/26.7, and 23.2/23.6 nm, respectively, for pump energies below 100 J, corresponding to irradiances of less than 10 TW/cm2. A gain coefficient g equals 2.2 cm-1 was measured for the 28.5-nm line of Cr at a pump energy of 90 plus or minus 5 J and with a 0.7% prepulse preceding the main pulse by 5 ns, resulting in a gain-length product of approximately 5.5. Angle-resolved spectra indicate a beam divergence of 3 mrad and a beam deflection angle of approximately 6 mrad. The space-resolved spectra show that the J equals 0 - 1 lasing line is emitted from an approximately 60-micrometer wide plasma region, while the nearby continuum emission is produced in a considerably broader plasma region of approximately 230 micrometer. Lasing was observed at pump energies as low as 60 J (approximately 6 TW/cm2), however with considerable shot-to-shot scatter in the data.
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