Temperature and Density Measurements in Low Density, Magnetized Plasmas Using a Multipass Thomson Scattering Cavity

POSTER

Abstract

We present experiments to study the temperature and density in low density, magnetized plasmas in UCLA's Large Plasma Device (density $\sim $10$^{12}$ cm$^{-3}$, temperature $\sim $5 eV) using a single-shot multipass Thomson scattering cavity with small scattering parameter alpha (non-collective regime). We frequency double the Phoenix laser (1064 nm, 10 J, 5 ns) to a 532 nm probe beam and send the beam $\sim $20 times through the target point in an image-relayed cavity, with the resulting mulitpassed beam yielding an effective probing energy of $\sim $100 J over $\sim $100 ns. The data will be compared to Langmuir probe measurements to characterize the ambient plasma and the setup will be used in future experiments to characterize exploding plasmas.

Authors

  • Derek Schaeffer

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Carmen Constantin

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Nathan Kugland

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Erik Everson

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Christoph Niemann

    • University of California, Los Angeles

  • Chris Ebbers

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Siegfried Glenzer

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory