Expanding PDV capabilities through time-multiplexing with an optical switch

Photonic Doppler Velocimetry (PDV) is a diagnostic commonly used in dynamic compression experiments to reliably get velocity information. In PDV systems, a common method of reducing the cost of scaling up the number of probes used is to use time and frequency multiplexing to increase the number of PDV probes a single optical detector and digitizer can handle. Using a high speed optical switch, we increased the number of channels of PDV data that can be time-multiplexed and reduced the interference between time-multiplexed probes. Approaches were tested on an aluminum standard using a plate impact experiment to test the technique, and we were able to record data from eight different velocimetry probes with a capacity to expand up to sixty-four using this technique.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.