Laser Probing of the Plasma in the S-300 Facility

A method for the laser probing of an imploding plasma in the S-300 high-current generator (I = 4 MA, Z = 0.15(omega), and (tau) = 100 ns) with the use of a YAG : Nd laser is described. The first version of the method enables obtaining three-frame shadow and schlieren photographs of the plasma of the accelerator load with an exposure of 10 ns and an interval between frames of 25 ns. The second version enables the five-frame probing of the plasma with an exposure of 1 ns and an interval between frames of 10 ns. Stimulated Brillouin scattering in carbon tetrachloride is used to compress the probing laser pulse. A series of shadow and schlieren photographs of the plasma of different liners and Z-pinches are obtained. Mechanisms for the image formation are discussed. The magnitude and gradients of the plasma density are estimated.