Fig. 1. Illustration of compact polarization interferometer optical path

Fig. 2. Probe light projection on each polarization component. (a) After WP1; (b) after WP2; (c) after polarization analyzer P2; (d) clarification about prism's placement

Fig. 3. Comparison of polarization image brightness variation introduced by self-generated magnetic field with experimental phenomenon. (a) Illustration of self-generated magnetic field and probe (solid line is optical axis of WP1, dashed-line-with-arrow indicates initial polarization of probe beam, and solid-line-with-arrow indicates polarization of probe beam after passing through plasma); (b) illustration of dual-spot shooting; (c) typical result from compact polarization interferometer

Fig. 4. Comparison of experimental data for verification of self-generated magnetic field. (a) ϕ1 set to positive; (b) ϕ1 set to negative (inset figure is polarization channel image from similar timed shot and indicates good repeatability)

Fig. 5. Faraday rotation angle infered from normalized intensity (delay between probe and main pulse is 3.5 ns)

Fig. 6. Results of magneto-hydrodynamics simulation. (a) Temporal pulse-form used in simulation (E=4.90 J, FWHM is 4.6 μm); (b) isosurface of electron density at 1019cm-3 and density projection on side panels; (c) isosurface of magnetic field at 50 T and magnetic field projection; (d)-(f) 3-slice data of temperature,velocity, and plasma β

Fig. 7. Synthesized optical diagnostic images from simulation results. (a) 3D ray tracing illustration, double focusing spots are on line X=0, probe is incident along X axis (half-lines show trajectory of rays in plasma); (b) electron density slice at X=0 (dashed-line shows density 250μm above target surface); (c) synthesized CCD shadowgraph channel image (with an aperture F number of f/6); (d) synthesized Faraday rotation angle; (e) synthesized polarization channel image (with full aperture); (f) synthesized polarization channel image (with an aperture F number of f/6)