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For monitoring the position and shape of fast moving and, especially, rotating objects such as turbo machine rotors, contactless and compact sensors with a high measurement rate as well as high precision are required. We present for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a novel laser Doppler sensor employing a single fan-shaped interference fringe system, which allows measuring for the position and shape of fast moving solid bodies with known tangential velocity. It is shown theoretically as well as experimentally that this sensor offers concurrently high position resolution and high temporal resolution in contrast to conventional measurement techniques, since its measurement uncertainty is, in principle, independent of the object velocity. Moreover, it can be built very compact, because it features low complexity. To prove its operational capability and its potential for practical applications, radial and axial shape measurements of rotating bodies are demonstrated in comparison with triangulation. An average position resolution of about 2 [micro]m could be achieved. OCIS codes: 120.0280, 120.3940, 120.6650, 150.5495, 280.3340, 280.4788.

In this paper we present a laser sensor for highly spatially resolved flow imaging without using a camera. The sensor is an extension of the principle of laser Doppler anemometry (LDA). Instead of a parallel fringe system, diverging and converging fringes are employed. This method facilitates the determination of the tracer particle position within the measurement volume and leads to an increased spatial and velocity resolution compared to conventional LDA. Using a total number of four fringe systems the flow is resolved in two spatial dimensions and the orthogonal velocity component. Since no camera is used, the resolution of the sensor is not influenced by pixel size effects. A spatial resolution of 4 [micro]m in the x direction and 16 [micro]m in the y direction and a relative velocity resolution of 1 x [10.sup.-3] have been demonstrated up to now. As a first application we present the velocity measurement of an injection nozzle flow. The sensor is also highly suitable for applications in nano- and microfluidics, e.g., for the measurement of flow rates. OCIS codes: 120.3940, 120.7250, 170.3340.

A Doppler global velocimetry (DGV) measurement technique with a sinusoidal laser frequency modulation is presented for measuring velocity fields in fluid flows. A cesium absorption cell is used for the conversion of the Doppler shift frequency into a change in light intensity, which can be measured by a fiber coupled avalanche photo diode array. Because of a harmonic analysis of the detector element signals, no errors due to detector offset drifts occur and no reference detector array is necessary for measuring the scattered light power. Hence, large errors such as image misalignment errors and beam split errors are eliminated. Furthermore, the measurement system is also capable of achieving high measurement rates up to the modulation frequency (100 kHz) and thus opens new perspectives to multiple point investigations of instationary flows, e.g., for turbulence analysis. A fundamental measurement uncertainty analysis based on the theory of Cramer and Rao is given and validated by experimental results. The current relation between time resolution and measurement uncertainty, as well as further optimization strategies, are discussed. OCIS codes: 120.0120, 120.7250, 280.7060, 280.2490.

A novel laser sensor for position measurements of technical solid-state surfaces is proposed. An external Fabry-Perot laser cavity is assembled by use of an antireflection-coated laser diode together with the technical surface. Mode locking results from pumping the laser diode synchronously to the mode spacing of the cavity. The laser cavity length, i.e., the distance to the measurement object, is determined by evaluation of the modulation transfer function of the cavity by means of a phase-locked loop. The mode-locking external-cavity laser sensor incorporates a resonance effect that results in highly resolving position and displacement measurements. More than a factor-of-10 higher resolution than with conventional nonresonant sensing principles is achieved. Results of the displacement measurements of various technical surfaces are reported. Experimental and theoretical investigations are in good agreement.

Investigating shear flows is important in technical applications as well as in fundamental research. Velocity measurements with high spatial resolution are necessary. Laser Doppler anemometry allows nonintrusive precise measurements, but the spatial resolution is limited by the size of the measurement volume to ~50 [micro]m. A new laser Doppler profile sensor is proposed, enabling determination of the velocity profile inside the measurement volume. Two fringe systems with contrary fringe spacing gradients are generated to determine the position as well as the velocity of passing tracer particles. Physically discriminating between the two measuring channels is done by a frequency-division-multiplexing technique with acousto-optic modulators. A frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser and a fiber-optic measuring head were employed, resulting in a portable and flexible sensor. In the center of the measurement volume of ~1-mm length, a spatial resolution of ~5 [micro]m was obtained. Spatially resolved measurements of the Blasius velocity profile are presented. Small velocities as low as 3 cm/s are measured. The sensor is applied in a wind tunnel to determine the wall shear stress of a boundary layer flow. All measurement results show good agreement with the theoretical prediction. OCIS codes: 060.2370, 120.7250.

We report a novel laser-Doppler velocity profile sensor for microfluidic and nanofluidic applications and turbulence research. The sensor's design is based on wavelength-division multiplexing. The high dispersion of a diffractive lens is used to generate a measurement volume with convergent and divergent interference fringes by means of two laser wavelengths. Evaluation of the scattered light from tracers allows velocity gradients to be measured in flows with submicrometer spatial resolution inside a measurement volume of 700-[micro]m length. Using diffraction optics and fiber optics, we achieved a miniaturized and robust velocity profile sensor for highly resolved velocity measurements.

Laser Doppler anemometry is a method for absolute velocity measurements that is based on a Mach--Zehnder interferometer arrangement and usually employs transverse fundamental-mode lasers. We employed inexpensive and powerful broad-area laser diodes and investigated ways in which an interference fringe system is influenced by the spatial coherence properties of a multimode beam. It was demonstrated that, owing to poor spatial coherence of the beam, interference is suppressed in the marginal regions of the intersection volume. Based on these results, a sensor for highly spatially resolved velocity measurements can be built. The inherent astigmatism of the broad-area diode is corrected by an arrangement of two crossed cylindrical lenses. An interference fringe system of length 200 [micro]m and a relative variation in fringe-spacing of only 0.22% were demonstrated with light emitted from a broad-area laser diode with a 100 [micro]m x 1 [micro]m emitter size. Based on this principle a powerful, simple, and robust laser Doppler sensor has been achieved. Highly spatially resolved measurements of a boundary layer flow are presented. OCIS codes: 120.3180, 030.1670, 280.3340.

We report a method for passive optical directional discrimination in laser-Doppler anemometers. For this purpose frequency-shift elements such as acousto-optic modulators, which are bulky and difficult to align during assembly, have traditionally been employed. We propose to use a quadrature homodyne technique to achieve directional discrimination of the fluid flow without any frequency-shift elements. It is based on the employment of two laser wavelengths, which generate two interference fringe systems with a phase shift of a quarter of the common fringe spacing. Measurement signal pairs with a direction-dependent phase shift of [+ or -] [pi]/2 are generated. As a robust signal-processing technique, the cross-correlation technique is used. The principles of quadrature homodyne laser-Doppler anemometry are investigated. A setup that provides a constant phase shift of [pi]/2 throughout the entire measurement volume was achieved with both single-mode and multimode radiation. The directional discrimination was successfully verified with wind tunnel measurements. The complete passive technique offers the potential of building miniaturized measurement heads that can be integrated, e.g., into wind tunnel models. OCIS codes: 120.7250, 120.3180.