Laser facility using nonlinear optical effects and its application for probing high-temperature pulsed plasmas

A laser diagnostic complex is described, which uses the second harmonic of a Nd : YAG laser to probe an imploding plasma on the high-current S-300 generator. The complex allows a five-frame shadow photographing of the high-temperature pulsed plasma with an exposure of 1 ns and an interval of 10 ns. The laser pulse is shortened due to stimulated Brillouin scattering in carbon tetrachloride. Series of shadow photographs of different short-lived plasma objects are obtained. The plasma density and the velocity of plasma motion are estimated.