Investigation of perturbations of laser plasma density profile by high-speed interferometry

An analysis is made of the principal parameters of an optical system for recording laser plasma interferograms. Methods for numerical analysis of interferograms on a computer are considered. A description is given of apparatus for high-speed interferometry with slit scanning by a streak camera with a time resolution of 10^–10 sec. The laser plasma interferograms obtained in this way are subjected to special calculation methods which increase the precision of the results. The system can be used to detect the development of a perturbation against the electron density profile in a plasma corona when the heating radiation intensity is ~5×10^–14 W/cm².