Numerical calculation and experimental research of gas jet density

A one-dimensional model was constructed to calculate the gas density profile within a few millimeters of the conical nozzle. The result from the model is in agreement with experiments. A program was developed to deal with data taken by the M-Z interferometry, which measures the two-dimensional spatial distribution of the gas density profile in front of the conical nozzle. In the interaction experiment, we can choose a proper backing pressure to achieve expectant density, according to the scaling of density with backing pressure. And the scaling of density with relative delay time was expected to provide instructions in establishing the relative timing between firing the jet and the arrival of the laser pulse in interaction experiments.