Measurement of an explosively driven hemispherical shell using 96 points of optical velocimetry

Multi-wavelength crosstalk-free photonic Doppler velocimetry

Multiplexed photonic Doppler velocimetry systems are developed to measure velocities with high density in physics experiments such as shock physics experiments on novel materials. Decreasing the mesh size can lead to crosstalk issues, which can be overcome by wavelength multiplexing. Crosstalk has been characterized on a line of eight collimators with a pitch of 1 mm. A crosstalk-free photonic Doppler velocimetry system with 16 telecom wavelengths was built. Wavelength multiplexing provides as well a reduction in the total number of fiber components. The system was designed for velocities up to 1000 m/s and with a bandwidth of 2 GHz. In the frequency domain, the channel spacing is 100 GHz, which is more than enough to prevent any crosstalk. A ramp compression experiment was carried out by a high-pulsed-power generator to demonstrate the dynamic performances of the crosstalk free system at about 80 m/s.

Extreme measurements with Photonic Doppler Velocimetry (PDV)

Photonic Doppler Velocimetry (PDV) is a fiber-based diagnostic for the extreme conditions created by high-speed impact, explosive detonation, electrical pulsed power, and intense laser ablation. PDV is a conceptually simple application of the optical Doppler effect, but measurements above 1 km/s only became practical at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This review discusses the evolution of PDV, its operational details, practical analysis, and outstanding challenges.

Validating data analysis of broadband laser ranging

Broadband laser ranging combines spectral interferometry and a dispersive Fourier transform to achieve high-repetition-rate measurements of the position of a moving surface. Telecommunications fiber is a convenient tool for generating the large linear dispersions required for a dispersive Fourier transform, but standard fiber also has higher-order dispersion that distorts the Fourier transform. Imperfections in the dispersive Fourier transform significantly complicate the ranging signal and must be dealt with to make high-precision measurements. We describe in detail an analysis process for interpreting ranging data when standard telecommunications fiber is used to perform an imperfect dispersive Fourier transform. This analysis process is experimentally validated over a 27-cm scan of static positions, showing an accuracy of 50 μm and a root-mean-square precision of 4.7 μm.

Simultaneous broadband laser ranging and photonic Doppler velocimetry for dynamic compression experiments

A diagnostic was developed to simultaneously measure both the distance and velocity of rapidly moving surfaces in dynamic compression experiments, specifically non-planar experiments where integrating the velocity in one direction does not always give the material position accurately. The diagnostic is constructed mainly from fiber-optic telecommunications components. The distance measurement is based on a technique described by Xia and Zhang [Opt. Express 18, 4118 (2010)], which determines the target distance every 20 ns and is independent of the target speed. We have extended the full range of the diagnostic to several centimeters to allow its use in dynamic experiments, and we multiplexed it with a photonic Doppler velocimetry (PDV) system so that distance and velocity histories can be measured simultaneously using one fiber-optic probe. The diagnostic was demonstrated on a spinning square cylinder to show how integrating a PDV record can give an incorrect surface position and how the ranging diagnostic described here obtains it directly. The diagnostic was also tested on an explosive experiment where copper fragments and surface ejecta were identified in both the distance and velocity signals. We show how the distance measurements complement the velocity data. Potential applications are discussed.