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Amplification of Spontaneous Emission from Doubly Excited He Atoms

J. Turnšek1,2, Š. Krušič1, A. Mihelič1,2, K. Bučar1,2, L. Foglia3, R. Mincigrucci3, M. Krstulović3, M. Coreno3, G. Bonano3 et al.

K. C. Prince3,4, C. Callegari3, A. Simoncig3, Z. Ebrahimpour3, E. Paltanin3, A. Benediktovitch5, R. Osellame6, A. G. Ciriolo6, R. Martínez Vázquez6, C. Vozzi6, E. Principi3, and M. Žitnik1,2

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 093001 – Published 26 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mg5s-xvct

Abstract

We have observed amplification of weak fluorescence from He atoms in the 3a Po1 autoionizing state, which decay by spontaneous emission of 40.74 eV photons in one out of 1600 cases. On average, a 4.1±1.6% conversion of 63.67 eV photons was detected in the forward direction at 20  μJ pump pulse energy and 40 mbar He gas pressure. A comparison with state-of-the-art theoretical simulations shows an unexpected spectral line shift at high gas pressure that is ascribed to transient molecular and electron scattering effects.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 093001– Published 26 August, 2025
  • Received 14 January 2025
  • Revised 16 May 2025
  • Accepted 24 July 2025
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