Polarized light interferometer for laser fusion studies.

A polarized light interferometer, suitable for the high-speed photography of microscopic objects in laser fusion experiments, is described. Based on a Wollaston prism as beam splitter, its main advantages are its relative simplicity, the absence of alignment and stability problems, and the extended spectral range down to 0.18 mum wavelength. The interferometer has been successfully applied in CO(2) and neodymium laser plasma interaction studies with laser illumination at 0.694 mum (ruby laser) and 0.265 mum (4th harmonic of the Nd(3+) laser) wavelength.