All-optical coaxial framing photography using parallel coherence shutters.

ABSTRACT

An all-optical framing camera has been developed to obtain serial images of high temporal and spatial resolution with identical spatial benchmark, identical temporal benchmark, and identical chromatic benchmark in a single shot. A train of laser probe pulses with identical wavelength coaxially illuminate the target and form sequentially timed images by means of parallel coherence shutters. A coherence shutter only selects one of the probe pulses to form a nonmultiplexing hologram. The other probe pulses superpose incoherently on the hologram as the background. By this method, each hologram is entirely separated from the others both in spatial and temporal domains. Two kinds of ultrafast physical process experiments, including laser driving air and laser driving aluminum foil, were performed to verify the feasibility of the parallel coherence shutters.