In-line particle field holography at Pegasus

Abstract

An in-line holographic imaging system has been developed for hydrodynamic experiments at the Pegasus facility located at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Holography offers the unique capability to record distributions of particles over a three dimensional volume. The system to be discussed is used to measure particle distributions of ejecta emitted after a cylindrical aluminum liner (5.0 cm in diameter, 2.0 cm high) impacts a target (3.0 cm in diameter). The ejecta emerge from the target traveling up to 7 mm//spl mu/s and moves toward the axial center of the system where the holographic imaging is performed. In-line holography is particularly suited for the Pegasus pulsed power facility where the geometry restrictions make off axis holography impractical. In order to record the fast moving particles a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser system has been implemented which produces a 80 ps 20 millijoule pulse at 532 nm. An optical relay system composed of a Fourier optical lens pair has been developed which is placed 4.0 cm from the center of the region of interest. This relay lens pair forms an intermediate image 32 cm from the object plane and the hologram is placed 4 cm downstream from the intermediate image. The holographic system and resolution capability is discussed.