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We report the first observation of large soft-x-ray amplification (gl=7. 2) in a discharge-created plasma. A fast, 40 kA, current pulse from a compact discharge was used to excite plasma columns up to 12 cm in length in 4-mm channels, producing population inversion in the J=0-1 line of Ne-like Ar and resulting in a gain of 0. 6 cm^-1 at 46. 9 nm. The beam divergence was measured to be 9 mrad.
Rocca et al. (Mon,) studied this question.