Short-pulse laser interferometric measurement of absolute gas densities from a cooled gas jet

We report on the use of a novel technique to measure the gas density from a pulsed gas jet. Deuterium gas is fully ionized with an intense picosecond laser, and the resulting electron density is measured by interferometric probing with a second picosecond pulse. We have applied this technique to characterize a cryogenically cooled, high-density gas jet.