Method and apparatus for holographic recording of fast phenomena

US6862121B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · US

Inventors

• Demetri Psaltis · Altadena, US
• Gregory Steckman · Glendora, US
• Zhiwen Liu · State College, US
• Theodore W. Haensch · Garching bei München, DE
• John H. Hong · San Diego, US
• Martin Centurion · Pasadena, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 5, 2002
• Grant date: Mar 1, 2005
• Expiry date: Sep 6, 2022

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G03H2260/54
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Holographic methods for recording fast movies whose speed is limited by the laser pulse duration if the recording material has sufficient sensitivity to reliably record a frame of the fast event with a single pulse. The method we describe uses the selectivity of multiplexed holograms to resolve frames that are recorded with adjacent pulses. Specially designed pulse generators are used to generate the signal and reference pulse trains. We experimentally demonstrate the system by making movies of laser induced shock waves with a temporal resolution of 5.9 ns, limited by the pulse width of the Q-switched Nd:YAG laser used in the experiments.