High-sensitivity stimulated-emission detector for soft-x-ray laser research

A novel, extremely sensitive system for the detection of stimulated emission is proposed. The principle of the detection method relies on the major difference between stimulated and spontaneous emission, its directionality. A unique feature of the system is the use of a separate spontaneous-emission source. The system is predicted to be sensitive to gain-length products down to 0.1 and below, a capability that would be useful in media in which stimulated emission is weak compared with spontaneous emission. This will have important applications to the development of soft-x-ray lasing in novel systems.