Performance comparison of an all-fiber-based laser Doppler vibrometer for remote acoustical signal detection using short and long coherence length lasers.

All-fiber laser Doppler vibrometer systems have great potential in the application of remote acoustic detection. However, due to the requirement for a long operating distance, a long coherence length laser is required, which can drive the system cost high. In this paper, a system using a short coherence length laser is proposed and demonstrated. Experimental analysis indicates that the multi-longitudinal modes of the laser cause detection noise and that the unequal length between two paths (local oscillator path and transmission path) increases the intensity and the frequency components of the noise. In order to reduce the noise, the optical length of the two paths needs to be balanced, within the coherence length of the source. We demonstrate that adopting a tunable optical delay to compensate the unequal length significantly reduces the noise. In a comparison of the detection results by using a short coherence laser and a long coherence laser, our developed system gives a good performance on the acoustic signal detection from three meters away.

Simulation analysis of the restraining effect of a spatial filter on a hot image.

Based on the restraining effect that spatial filtering has on the frequency spectrum of a beam, from the small-scale focusing theory of Bespalov and Talanov (B-T theory) we derive an expression for the pinhole diameter of the spatial filter corresponding to the fastest growing frequency. Then, compared with the theoretical pinhole diameter of the spatial filter, the restraining effect of the spatial filter on a hot image with different pinhole diameters is numerically investigated. The numerical results show that, if the pinhole diameter is larger than the theoretical one, the hot-image intensity will remain steady; once the pinhole diameter becomes smaller than the theoretical one, the hot-image intensity will begin to decrease. Moreover, as the pinhole diameter decreases, a more prominent restraining effect can be obtained. But reducing the diameter of the spatial filter would lead to greater beam energy loss. The parameters of the spatial filter must be chosen to guarantee that the scheme fulfills the demand for low beam energy loss and a satisfactory restraining effect simultaneously.

Second-order hot image from a scatterer in high-power laser systems.

A theory is developed for predicting a second-order hot-image formation in high-power laser systems. Light diffracted from a small optical scatterer interferes with an intense original wave in the nonlinear medium to produce a hologram like a Fresnel-zone plate. The theoretical model shows that the hologram produces a negative first-order diffractive wave focused to the traditional hot image and negative second-order diffraction that causes another intense image, namely, a second-order hot image. It is found by analysis that the location of the second-order hot image arises in a downstream plane with a half-distance from the medium to the scatterer. Results of the numerical calculations show that the peak intensity of the nonlinear image may reach a level high enough to damage optical components with the increase of the breakup integral (B integral), indicating that the image may also potentially damage expensive optical components in high-power laser systems.