Two-dimensional interferogram of an exploding selenium foil using a soft X-ray laser interferometer

We have developed a soft X-ray interferometer capable of probing large high-density plasmas with micron spatial resolutions. A neon-like yttrium X-ray laser operating at 155 /spl Aring/ was combined with the Mach-Zehnder interferometer to obtain electron density profiles of a laser-produced exploding selenium foil plasma. The plasma was produced with one Nova laser beam using a 120-/spl mu/m line focus, the same conditions used to create a selenium X-ray laser. The interferogram of the selenium plasma was obtained from an end-on perspective.