A fibre based triature interferometer for measuring rapidly evolving, ablatively driven plasma densities.

We report on the first use of a fibre interferometer incorporating triature analysis for measuring rapidly evolving plasma densities of n(e) ∼ 10(13)/cm(3) and above, such as those produced by simple coaxial plasma guns. The resultant system is extremely portable, easy to field in experiments, relatively cheap to produce, and—with the exception of a small open area in which the plasma is sampled—safe in operation as all laser light is enclosed.