Scaling Interferometry to the Multi-Petawatt Regime

Mara L. Klebonas; Hernan J. Quevedo; Calin I. Hojbota; Michael Spinks; Keenan Riordan; Ryan Nedbailo; Michael Downer; Hans G. Rinderknecht; Ou Z. Labun

arXiv · 2605.03029

Scaling Interferometry to the Multi-Petawatt Regime

Mara L. Klebonas·Hernan J. Quevedo·Calin I. Hojbota·Michael Spinks·Keenan Riordan·Ryan Nedbailo·Michael Downer·Hans G. Rinderknecht·Ou Z. Labun

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Abstract

Pre-plasma conditions strongly influence laser-plasma interactions in the multi-petawatt (MPW) regime, increasing the need for reliable early-time plasma evolution diagnostics. Among available pre-plasma diagnostics, interferometry remains the most direct method for measuring the spatially resolved electron density of pre-formed plasmas. However, its implementation becomes increasingly challenging at MPW scale dueto steep density gradients, phase-recovery difficulties, strong electromagnetic pulses (EMP), debris accumulation, and high-repetition-rate operation. Compounding these technical challenges, many large-scale facilities lack permanent probe-line architecture and trained diagnostic support, reducing experimental reproducibility and consuming limited beamtime. Future MPW facilities should standardize probe-line architecture, adopt off frequency probing strategies, improve phase-recovery methods for non-symmetric plasmas, integrate emerging real-time analysis capabilities, and engineer diagnostic systems resilient to EMP and high-repetition-rate environments. These advances will enable the user community to reliably characterize pre-plasma formation and laser-plasma dynamics at next-generation MPW facilities.

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Mara L. Klebonas, Hernan J. Quevedo, Calin I. Hojbota, Michael Spinks, Keenan Riordan, Ryan Nedbailo, Michael Downer, Hans G. Rinderknecht, Ou Z. Labun. 2026-05-04. Scaling Interferometry to the Multi-Petawatt Regime. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.03029

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