Systems and methods for measuring electron density within a plasma

Abstract

Systems and methods for measuring electron density within a plasma are disclosed herein. An example system includes a laser source configured to emit a light beam, a first second harmonic generation (SHG) component configured to receive the light beam and generate a first harmonic light beam with a first polarization, and a plasma chamber containing a plasma, which the light beam and the first harmonic light beam pass through. The example system further includes a second SHG component configured to receive the light beam after passing through the plasma and generate a second harmonic light beam that has a second polarization. The example system further includes a heterodyne detection component configured to detect an interference pattern of the first harmonic light beam combined with the second harmonic light beam, and data processing circuitry configured to determine an electron density of the plasma based on the interference pattern.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.