Dense plasma diagnostics with an amplitude division soft X-ray laser interferometer based on diffraction gratings

Summary form only given. The development of gain-saturated soft X-ray lasers has opened the possibility to extend laser interferometry to large-scale high-density plasmas that can not be probed with optical lasers. The recent advent of gain-saturated tabletop soft X-ray lasers creates the opportunity of developing portable soft X-ray tools that will allow detailed maps of the electron density evolution in a great variety of very dense plasmas. Recently, our group has demonstrated plasma interferometry combining a 46.9-nm capillary discharge tabletop laser with a wavefront-division interferometer based on Lloyd´s mirror. The Lloyd´s mirror has the advantage of constituting the simplest possible soft X-ray interferometer.