Measurement of 2D density profiles using a second-harmonic, dispersion interferometer

A second-harmonic, dispersion interferometer is used to image large-area (≃5 cm²) plasma-jet and gas-jet density profiles. Achromatic telescopes magnify the diameters of the primary-laser beam (1064 nm) and its second-harmonic (532 nm) before probing the sample and de-magnify the beam diameters after the sample, where the primary beam transfers its phase change to a second, second-harmonic beam, allowing the sample's dispersive-phase change to be measured between two, orthogonally polarized second harmonic beams. The telescopes produce an azimuthally symmetric, dispersive-phase shift in the sample + background phase-change image and in the background phase-change image, which is removed by digital subtraction. The interferometer's performance was verified using standard-optical components as dispersive elements (BK7 lenses and wedge plates), resolving a minimum, phase-change sensitivity of Δϕ_min ≳ 15 mrad and spatial resolution of Δx_res ≃ 100 μm. The phase change produced by unknown-density objects (a pulsed-plasma-jet and a pulsed-gas-jet) was measured, and their data were used to recover the original, 2D density profiles using an inverse Abel transform: peak-number density, N_gas ≃ 6 × 10²⁰ cm^-3 and N_e ≃ 5 × 10¹⁶ cm^-3; line-integrated density, ∫N_gasdl ∼ 2 × 10¹⁹cm^-2 and ∫N_edl ∼ 1 × 10¹⁶cm^-2. The techniques and methods developed here are scalable to even larger probe-beam diameters and frame-capture rates, leading to a diagnostic capability that is well-suited for applications involving the real-time measurement of density.