Soft x-ray lasers and their applications

The emerging technology of soft x-ray lasers has novel applications to microscopy, lithography, and other fields. This article describes the status of soft x-ray laser research with the aim of bringing the rapid developments in this field to the attention of potential users in other disciplines. The different techniques for generating a population inversion and producing a soft x-ray laser are reviewed. The status of current research in the field and the near-term prospects are described. It is expected that the range of potential applications of soft x-ray lasers will increase as their performance improves. Work aimed at increasing the output power and progressing to shorter wavelengths with these devices is also reviewed.