---

These proceedings comprise a selection of invited and contributed papers presented at the 15th International Conference on X-Ray Lasers (ICXRL 2016), held at the Nara Kasugano International Forum, Japan, from May 22 to 27, 2016. This conference was part of an ongoing series dedicated to recent developments in the science and technology of x-ray lasers and other coherent x-ray sources with additional focus on supporting technologies, instrumentation and applications.

The book showcases recent advances in the generation of intense, coherent x-rays, the development of practical devices and their applications across a wide variety of fields. It also discusses emerging topics such as plasma-based x-ray lasers, 4th generation accelerator-based sources and higher harmonic generations, as well as other x-ray generation schemes.

---

Part 1: Plasma Based X-Ray Lasers and Applications (10 papers).-

Chapter 1. Overview of Laser-driven Coherent Short-wavelength Sources at PALS and ELI Beamlines (Invited).-

Chapter 2. High Average Power Table-Top Soft X-Ray Lasers Using Diode-Pumped Laser Drivers (Invited).-

Chapter 3. Progress and Prospects of X-ray Laser Research at QST.-

Chapter 4. DAGON: a 3D Maxwell-Bloch Code.-

Chapter 5. Plasma-Source High-Resolution XUV Spectroscopy as Complementary to Beamlines Limitations (Invited).-

Chapter 6. The creation of radiation dominated plasmas using laboratory X-ray lasers (Invited).-

Chapter 7. Plasma Dynamics in Capillary Discharges (Invited).-

Chapter 8. MHD Simulation of Various Cross-Section Capillary Discharges.-

Chapter 9. Towards Generation of Sub-fs Pulses Using Lasing to Ground States of H-like LiIII at 13.5nm and He-like CV at 4nm.-

Chapter 10. Numerical Calculation of Gain Coefficient for Recombination X-Ray Lasers in a Carbon Cluster plasma.-

Part 2: Higher Harmonics and FEL Based X-Ray Lasers (10 papers).-

Chapter 11. Investigations on Ultrafast Atomic and Molecular Dynamics with Harmonic Sources (Invited).-

Chapter 12. Characterization of partially coherent ultrashort XUV pulses (Invited).-

Chapter 13. High-Order Harmonic Generation by Relativistic Plasma Singularities: the Driving Laser Requirements (Invited).-

Chapter 14. Wave-Mixing and Amplification in the Extreme Ultraviolet Region.-

Chapter 15. HHG beam wavefront characterization at 30 nm.-

Chapter 16. Using the X-FEL to drive gain in K-shell and L-shell systems using photo-ionization and photo-excitation of inner-shell transitions (Invited).-

Chapter 17. Superfluorescence/Superradiance in Helium Following Free-Electron-Laser Excitation.-

Chapter 18. In Situ Characterization of XFEL Beam Intensity Distribution and Focusibility by High Resolution LiF Crystal X-Ray Detector.-

Chapter 19. Achieving Laser Wakefield Accelerated Electron Beams of Low Enough Energy Spread for an X-FEL.-

Chapter 20. Proposal for Experiment Systems Using Laser Driven Heavy Ions and XFELs to Understand Physical Phenomena Occurring near the Incident Ion Path.-

Part 3: Ultrafast X-Rays and Applications (11 papers).-

Chapter 21. Laser driven plasma based incoherent X-ray sources at PALS and ELI Beamlines (Invited).-

Chapter 22. Research on Laser Acceleration and Coherent X-ray Generation using J-KAREN-P laser (Invited).-

Chapter 23. X-rays driven by Single-Cycle, Petawatt Lasers: A Path to Exawatt Pulses.-

Chapter 24. Ultraintense X-Ray Radiation Photopumping of Exotic States of Matter by Relativistic Laser Plasma in the Radiation-Dominated Kinetic Regime (RDKR) (Invited).-

Chapter 25. Enhanced coherent Thomson scattering in the few-cycle regime.-

Chapter 26. Plasma channel undulator for narrow-bandwidth X-ray generation.-

Chapter 27. Three-dimensional Supersonic Sapphire Micronozzles for Laser-Plasma Wakefield Accelerators.-

Chapter 28. Generating ultrahigh brilliance quasi-monochromatic MeV -rays with high-quality LWFA electron beams.-

Chapter 29. Features of Induced X-Ray Radiation and Possible Tandem FEL Realization on Channeling Particles.-

Chapter 30. Features of Resonant Absorption and Short-Wavelength Laser Amplification in Realistic Media.-

Part 4: Alternative X-Rays and Applications (5 papers).-

Chapter 31. Observation and Investigation of Intensive Directional Quasi-coherent X-Ray Generated at Interaction of Cavitating Liquid Jet with a Target.-

Chapter 32. Laser Plasma X-ray Source Based on Cryogenic Targets.-

Chapter 33. Photoionization of Atomic Neon Induced Using Nanosecond Pulses of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV).-

Chapter 34. Effects of Equation of State on fluid simulations for laser-produced plasmas.-

Part 5: X-Ray Imaging (9 papers).-

Chapter 35. Soft X-Ray Laser Ablation Mass Spectrometry for Chemical Composition Imaging in Three Dimensions (3D) at th

---