Shumlak, UriNelson, Brian AKim, Bonghan2018-07-312018-07-312018-07-312018Kim_washington_0250O_18972.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/1773/42171Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2018The FuZE Z-pinch experiment is a plasma confinement experiment that uses radially sheared plasma flow to stabilize the otherwise unstable Z-pinch plasma. The experiment aims to test sheared flow stabilization in fusion-relevant plasma parameters to investigate sheared Z-pinch confinement's potential for nuclear fusion power generation.The FuZE Diagnostic suite includes He-Ne heterodyne quadrature multi-chord interferometry, which has been used to gain insight into the time evolving density characteristics of FuZE Z-pinch plasma. This thesis covers the experimental setup of the He-Ne interferometry, theoretical background behind heterodyne quadrature interferometry, signal analysis using analog circuitry and a Python routine, and the resulting density measurements.application/pdfen-USnoneFuZEInterferometryZaPZ-pinchPlasma physicsAeronautics and astronauticsThesis