ELECTRON-DENSITY MEASUREMENT OF A COLLIDING PLASMA USING SOFT-X-RAY LASER INTERFEROMETRY

We have used a soft-x-ray laser interferometer to study the collision and subsequent interaction of counterstreaming high-density plasmas. T he measured density profiles show the evolution of the colliding plasm as from interpenetration, when the low-density edge of the plasmas fir st collide, to stagnation at the symmetry plane with density building at the symmetry plane. We compare the measured profiles with density p rofiles calculated by the radiation hydrodynamic code LASNEX, which pr edicts plasma stagnation as soon as the plasmas collide, and a particl e-in-cell code, which allows for interpenetration, softening the stagn ation.