Interferometry Results from Single Jet and Two Jet Merging Experiments on PLX*

The Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) is exploring single jet propagation and two jet merging of supersonic plasma jets in support of forming HED and potentially MIF-relevant imploding spherical ``plasma liners'' that can reach peak pressures $\sim $ 0.1-1 Mbar at stagnation. A novel 8 chord interferometer using a 561 nm diode-pumped solid state laser is being used to make time-resolved density profile measurements of the plasma jets. The interferometer phase shift is sensitive to electron, ion, and neutral atoms and thus is dependent on both plasma ionization fraction, $f$, and total atomic density. For argon jets both positive and negative phase shifts have been observed, where the sign of the phase shift bounds the value $f$ in the jet. Interferometry measurements coupled with spectroscopy and synthetic diagnostic data have allowed us to infer key physics such as plasma density range (10$^{16}$ -- 10$^{17}$ cm$^{-3})$, jet propagation velocity ($\sim $50 km/s), and radial and axial expansion. This poster will cover results from both single jet propagation and two jet merging experiments.