Simultaneous streak and frame interferometry for electron density measurements of laser produced plasmas
- Center for High Energy Density Science, Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 (United States)
A system of two collinear probe beams with different wavelengths and pulse durations was used to capture simultaneously snapshot interferograms and streaked interferograms of laser produced plasmas. The snapshots measured the two dimensional, path-integrated, electron density on a charge-coupled device while the radial temporal evolution of a one dimensional plasma slice was recorded by a streak camera. This dual-probe combination allowed us to select plasmas that were uniform and axisymmetric along the laser direction suitable for retrieving the continuous evolution of the radial electron density of homogeneous plasmas. Demonstration of this double probe system was done by measuring rapidly evolving plasmas on time scales less than 1 ns produced by the interaction of femtosecond, high intensity, laser pulses with argon gas clusters. Experiments aimed at studying homogeneous plasmas from high intensity laser-gas or laser-cluster interaction could benefit from the use of this probing scheme.
- OSTI ID:
- 22482812
- Journal Information:
- Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 87, Issue 1; Other Information: (c) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
A novel femtosecond-gated, high-resolution, frequency-shifted shearing interferometry technique for probing pre-plasma expansion in ultra-intense laser experiments
Plasma-based accelerator diagnostics based upon longitudinal interferometry with ultrashort optical pulses