The recent observation of strong amplification on multikilovolt Xe(L) hollow atom transitions in the ∼2.8 Å spectral region can be seen as a consequence of the combination of (1) a new concept for amplification that involves the creation of a highly ordered state combining ionic, plasma, and coherent radiative components and (2) the use of two recently discovered (c. ∼1990) forms of radially symmetric energetic matter, namely, hollow atoms and self‐trapped plasma channels. This approach enables the demanding power densities necessary for x‐ray amplification (∼1019W/cm3) to be reached under conditions for which (&agr;) the effective phase space volume of the interaction is profoundly limited and (&bgr;) the energy transfer is radiation dominated. A leading application will be the realization of a new mode of microimaging of living biological matter having a spatial resolution ∼1000‐fold superior to conventional light microscopy. © 2004 American Institute of Physics