Direct comparison of quantitative shadowgraphy with interferomery for plasma density measurements

The aim of this paper is to compare experimentally the performance of quantitative shadowgraphy to traditional interferometry for plasma density measurements. In our set-ups, shadowgraphy resulted more sensitive than interferometry and also more suitable for the full exploitation of the spatial resolution of the imaging system. Moreover, we discuss the use of two different algorithms for shadowgraphic retrieval which are relevant for low and moderate absorptive samples.