Optical distance measurements to recover the material approach missed by optical velocimetry

Abstract

Optical velocimetry is limited to measuring the component of the target velocity along the axis of the optical beam, thereby allowing a laterally moving tilted surface to approach a probe undetected. We are not discussing the detection of the lateral motion, but rather the detection of material approaching the probe due to lateral motion of a surface that is not perpendicular to the beam. This motion is not measured in optical velocimetry, and consequentially, integrating the velocity will in general give an incorrect position. We will present three approaches to overcome this limitation: Tilted wave-front interferometry, which maps time of flight into fringe displacement; pulse bursts for which we measure the change in the average arrival time of a burst, and amplitude modulation interferometry, in which a change in path length shows up as a change in the phase of the modulation. All three of these have the potential to be integrated with existing velocimetry probes for simultaneous velocity and displacement measurements. We will also report on initial tests of these approaches.