The
Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) diagnostic method has the unique
ability to measure all major physical properties of plasma ions,
with resolution on the mm/nsec scales, in plasmas under LAPD
conditions. LIF and its variant Optical Tagging (OT) constitute
the fastest-expanding measurement technology in basic plasma
physics, and have made possible the characterization of new
wave-particle processes in precisely the frequency regime of
Alfvén waves, i.e. when the dominant interaction is with
ions.
Left image: Pump and Dye laser on optical table.
Right image: 468 nm light coupled into fiber optic cable

Dye
laser showing several optical components