Interferometric measurements of plasma density in high-β plasmas

The coupled-cavity laser interferometer technique is particularly applicable to the measurement of pulsed plasma densities. This technique is based on the fact that if a small fraction of a gas laser's output radiation is reflected into the laser with an external mirror, the intensity of the laser output is modulated. These amplitude or intensity modulations are produced by changes in the laser gain. A rotating corner mirror or an oscillating mirror can be used to produce a continuous feedback modulation of the interferometer which produces a continuous background fringe pattern. The presence of plasma in the outer cavity causes an additional change which results in a phase shift of the regular period of the background fringe pattern. The integral of the plasma density along the line of sight can be evaluated by comparison of the time history of the fringes obtained with and without plasma