Photonic Doppler velocimetry tracks motion during high-speed, single-event experiments using telecommunication fiber components. The same technology can be applied in situations where there is no actual motion, but rather a change in the optical path length. Migration of plasma into vacuum alters the refractive index near a fiber probe, while intense radiation modifies the refractive index of the fiber itself. These changes can diagnose extreme environments in a flexible, time-resolved manner.
THRIVE (THRee Interferometer VElocimetry) is an analysis package for reducing three-phase interferometry measurements. Three-phase displacement interferometry measurements are the primary application of this program, although velocity interferometry is also supported. THRIVE uses a push-pull approach to transform measured signals to a pair of quadrature signals, from which fringe shift, target position, and target velocity are inferred. The program can analyze the signals in an ideal sense or compensate for non-ideal measurement conditions using ellipse characterization. The program can be run in any current version of MATLAB (release 2007a or later) or as a Windows XP executable.
Complementary gas-gun and electro-magnetic pulse tests conducted in Sandia's Dynamic Integrated Compression Experimental (DICE) Facility have, respectively, probed the behavior of electronic-grade Kovar samples under controlled impact and intermediate-strain-rate ICE (Isentropic Compression Experiment) loading. In all tests, velocity interferometer (VISAR) diagnostics provided time-resolved measurements of sample response for conditions involving one-dimensional (i:e:, uniaxial strain) compression and release. Wave-profile data from the gas-gun impact experiments have been analyzed to assess the Hugoniot Elastic Limit (HEL), Hugoniot equation of state, spall strength, and high-pressure yield strength of shocked Kovar. The ICE wave-profile data have been interpreted to determine the locus of isentropic stress-strain states generated in Kovar for deformation rates substantially lower than those associated with a shock process. The impact and ICE results have been compared to examine the influence of loading rate on high-pressure strength.