Patent Number: 
Section: abstract

A high energy photon source. A pair of plasma pinch electrodes are located in a vacuum chamber. A working gas which includes a noble buffer gas and an active gas chosen to provide a desired spectral line. A pulse power source provides electrical pulses at voltages high enough to create electrical discharge between the electrodes to produce very high temperature, high density plasma pinch in the working gas providing radiation at the spectral line of the active gas. An external reflection radiation collector-director collects radiation produced in the plasma pinches and directs the radiation in a desired direction. In a preferred embodiment the active gas is lithium and the buffer gas is helium and the radiation collector-director is coated with the material used for the electrodes. A good choice for the material is tungsten. In a second preferred embodiment the buffer gas is argon and lithium gas is produced by vaporization of solid or liquid lithium located in a hole along the axis of the central electrode of a coaxial electrode configuration. Other preferred embodiments utilize a conical nested debris collector upstream of the radiation collector-director.