Laser Ultrasonic Sensors with Near PZT-Transducer. DURIP99

Abstract

Several key milestones have been reached in our investigation of photorefractive-based pulsed laser interferometry. The first issue involves the response time of photorefractive crystals under pulse illumination. The laser system is capable of producing a "top-hat" laser pulse with a maximum duration of 100 micro s. This means that the crystal response time must be less than 60-80 micro s such that the grating can be formed during the first part of the laser pulse and the ultrasonic signal can be detected during the final 10-20 micro s. It was found that the response time of the GaAs was sufficiently shorter than 60 micro s such that substantial two-wave mixing gain could be observed even within the first 10-20 micro s of the pulse. Next, surface acoustic waves have been detected using the pulsed interferometer. Although only moderate signal-to-noise ratio has been achieved to date, several modifications of the system are currently underway that we hope will lead to substantial improvements.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA381618

Entities

People

  • Jan D. Achenbach
  • Sridhar Krishnaswamy

Organizations

  • Northwestern University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustic Waves
  • Acousto-Optic Modulators
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Instrumentation
  • Interferometers
  • Laser Pulses
  • Modulation
  • Optical Detection
  • Optical Detectors
  • Repetition Rate
  • Sensitivity
  • Surface Acoustic Waves
  • Transducers
  • Wave Mixing
  • Waveplates
  • Waves

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy