Singlehyphen;wavelength holographic interferometry was applied to the study of an exploding lithium wire plasma. The wire was 1 mil in diameter, extruded in vacuum. A holographichyphen;quality rubyhyphen;laser probe produced a 16hyphen;ns FWHM pulse at lgr;=694.3 nm with 45 mJ in the TEM00mode. A temperaturehyphen;controlled resonant reflector restricted laser operation to essentially a singlehyphen;longitudinal mode. Linear charge density measured from Abel inverted interferograms implied that a significant amount of neutral or unhyphen;ionized lithium was present in a cold core. Peak electron density reached 1.4times;1019eminus;/cm3and 2Te10 eV, but significant neutral contribution prevented accurate electron density determination near the core. Three characteristic periods of plasma development were identified and compared to timehyphen;resolved streak photographs of the luminous plasma front and optical spectra. Of special interest, a period of localized neutral rsquo;rsquo;cloudrsquo;rsquo; formation was observed with densities reaching 8times;1017cmminus;3, forming after selfhyphen;pinching and before peak discharge current.
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