Determination of necking zone using laser speckle

This paper presents a whole field laser speckle method for the measurement of the necking zone on the surface of metallic specimens. The method employs an expanded laser beam to illuminate the test object. Diffracted images are recorded on a high resolution photographic film and subsequently filtered using point wise filtering. The intensity of the diffracted halo is measured with a photo-sensor and the intensity distribution on the specimen yields information on the necking zone of the test object. The technique is applied to aflat tensile specimen with two circular notches at the central portion. Measured necking zone is compared with results obtained by other conventional methods.     

Determination of optimal exposure time for imaging of blood flow changes with laser speckle contrast imaging

Laser speckle contrast imaging is becoming an established method for full-field imaging of cerebral blood flow dynamics in animal models. The sensitivity and noise in the measurement of blood flow changes depend on the camera exposure time. The relation among sensitivity, noise, and camera exposure time was investigated experimentally by imaging the speckle contrast changes in the brain after electrical forepaw stimulation in rats. The sensitivity to relative changes in speckle contrast was found to increase at longer exposure times and to reach a plateau for exposure times greater than approximately 2 ms. However, the speckle contrast noise also increases with exposure time and thus the contrast-to-noise ratio was found to peak at an exposure time of approximately 5 ms. Our results suggests that approximately 5 ms is an optimal exposure time for imaging of stimulus-induced changes in cerebral blood flow in rodents.     

Contrast-enhanced imaging of cerebral vasculature with laser speckle

High-resolution cerebral vasculature imaging has applications ranging from intraoperative procedures to basic neuroscience research. Laser speckle, with spatial contrast processing, has recently been used to map cerebral blood flow. We present an application of the technique using temporal contrast processing to image cerebral vascular structures with a field of view a few millimeters across and approximately 20 microm resolution through a thinned skull. We validate the images using fluorescent imaging and demonstrate a factor of 2-4 enhancement in contrast-to-noise ratios over reflectance imaging using white or spectrally filtered green light. The contrast enhancement enables the perception of approximately 10%-30% more vascular structures without the introduction of any contrast agent.     

Determination of laser ablation threshold of Teflon at different harmonics of Nd:YAG laser using photothermal deflection technique

We report the measurement of the laser ablation threshold of Teflon using photothermal beam deflection at 1.06 m, 0.532 m, and 0.355 m irradiation in air. The measured ablation threshold at various wavelengths is used to estimate the absorption coefficient. It is observed that the absorption coefficient increases with a decrease in wavelength.     

Percussion hole drilling of metals with a fourth-harmonic Nd:YAG laser studied by defocused laser speckle correlation

Defocused speckle correlation is introduced as a tool for measuring the response in metal sheets during percussion laser drilling. For this procedure the fourth-harmonic Nd:YAG wavelength (266 nm) was used in pulsed mode. The method provides a cost-efficient and robust alternative to speckle interferometry for the study of the small deformations that appear during laser processing. The accuracy was shown to be of the order of a few tens of microradians for the tilt component that is measured, which translates to a few nanometers in deflection when the component is spatially integrated. In the measurements, deflections in the form of craters as large as 50 nm were detected on the back sides of silver and copper sheets. The diameters of the craters were 300 microm in the silver and 150 microm in the copper sheet; the output diameter of the hole was -5 microm.     

Simulation of sea surface wave influence on small target detection with airborne laser depth sounding.

A theoretical model for simulation of airborne depth-sounding lidar is presented with the purpose of analyzing the influence from water surface waves on the ability to detect 1-m(3) targets placed on the sea bottom. Although water clarity is the main limitation, sea surface waves can significantly affect the detectability. The detection probability for a target at a 9-m depth can be above 90% at 1-m/s wind and below 80% at 6-m/s wind for the same water clarity. The simulation model contains both numerical and analytical components. Simulated data are compared with measured data and give realistic results for bottom depths between 3 and 10 m.     

Effect of compensation for spherical aberration on the transverse displacement of laser speckle patterns

When a rough surface illuminated by coherent light is displaced perpendicularly to the optical axis of an imaging optical system the speckle pattern in the conjugate plane is transversally displaced too. This displacement has two components. The first one is proportional to the object displacement, and the second one depends on wave-front aberrations and, consequently, is strongly related to the optical system that is used. Usually, well-corrected photographic objectives are used for the measurement of transverse displacements by double-exposure laser speckle photography. Since in well-corrected objectives aberrations tend to compensate one another, it seems that the complementary displacement of the speckle pattern, caused by aberrations, is near zero and does not affect the accuracy of the measurement. Here it is analytically shown that the compensation of spherical aberrations does not guarantee a negligible complementary displacement. From the results obtained it follows that well-corrected objectives for laser speckle photography can be regarded as a particular class of photographic objectives, since they not only yield high-quality images but also minimize complementary displacement.     

轮胎激光散斑干涉相位图多方向频域滤波方法

为解决激光数字剪切散斑干涉技术应用于轮胎缺陷检测中轮胎缺陷相位条纹图噪声对包裹相位图解包和轮胎缺陷尺寸测量产生严重影响问题,通过对散斑干涉相位图的形成与条纹特征分析,研究一种根据不同方向的条纹密度来设置不同截止频率的多方向频域低通滤波方法。该方法只需进行一次滤波就能有效滤除噪声,还能更好地保留图像的边缘信息。实验结果表明:在两组滤波实验中,与中值滤波方法相比,多方向频域低通滤波的边缘保持指数分别是其4.257倍、2.869倍;与正余弦滤波方法相比,多方向频域低通滤波方法的残差点数分别是正余弦滤波方法的16.456%、36.555%,体现出较好的滤波特性。     

Non-contact strain measurement using metal foil gauges with the application of the laser speckle method

This paper presents a new method to measure cyclic strain with no contact using metal foil gauges assisted by the laser speckle method. When aluminium foil is pasted on a specimen and the specimen is loaded cyclically, slip bands are produced on the foil surface. There is a fixed relation between density of the slip bands and the strain amplitude or loading cycles depending on the foil material. Thus the fatigue strain of the base metal can be estimated by observing the surface change of the metal foil by the slip bands at a constant number of loading cycles. The method presented in this paper is intended to make a non-contacting strain measurement by the application of the laser speckle technique for the detection of the surface change. This method is based on observation of the changes in a laser speckle pattern depending on the surface roughness and surface property changes of the foil caused by fatigue. The laser speckle pattern can be analysed automatically and quantitatively using an image processing system.     

Assessing the applicability of terrestrial laser scanning for spatial snow depth measurements

Snow depth observation in potentially dangerous avalanche-starting zones is important for avalanche prediction and dimensioning of permanent protection measures. The possible danger of avalanches complicates measurements of snow depth in the field (e.g. by probing). Therefore, the applicability of terrestrial laser scanning to measure the depth of the snow cover was analysed. Different long-range laser profile measuring systems were used carrying out numerous field campaigns (Vorarlberg, Austrian Alps). The objective of the study was to discover under which meteorological and snowpack conditions the measurements must be taken in order to provide accurate results (< 10 cm). For the first time a detailed investigation focusing on the limitations and properties of different terrestrial laser scanning systems for application in snow and avalanche research is presented and discussed. Results suggest that under adequate measurement conditions the distance between the scanner position and the surface of the snowpack can be measured with an accuracy < 10 cm. Poor weather conditions such as snowfall or fog preclude the collection of reliable data. If the snow surface was wet and the snow grain size was large (> 1 mm) only 50% of the emitted signal was received, depending on the angle of incidence. In any case, the accuracy decreases with increasing distance to the target. For distances to the object of more than about 500 m, the accuracy that can be achieved with the used TLS measuring systems is rather low and the errors can be significantly larger than 10 cm.     

轮胎激光散斑干涉相位条纹图局域多方向频域滤波方法

为解决激光数字剪切散斑干涉技术应用于轮胎缺陷检测中,轮胎缺陷相位条纹图中噪声对包裹相位图解包和轮胎缺陷尺寸测量产生严重影响的问题,该文通过对散斑干涉相位图的条纹特征分析,研究一种根据条纹密度将相位图划分成不同滤波区域进行多方向频域滤波的方法。实验结果表明:在两组模拟的相位图滤波实验中,局域多方向滤波方法的相位误差均值P_(mean)和相位均方根误差RMS都比正余弦滤波方法、多方向频域滤波方法要小,滤波结果更接近真值;在第3组滤波实验中,局域多方向频域滤波方法的残差点数分别是正余弦滤波方法、多方向频域滤波方法的11.39%、56.25%,体现出较好的滤波特性。     

Influence of perfusion depth on laser Doppler flow measurements with large source-detector spacing

Laser Doppler flowmetry with a large source-detector spacing has been applied to measure blood perfusion in the deeper regions of tissue. The influence of the depth of perfusion on the Doppler spectrum for the large source-detector spacing is likely to be different from that for the conventional laser Doppler instruments with small source-detector spacing. In this study, the light propagation in a tissue model with a blood perfusion layer is predicted by the Monte Carlo simulation to discuss the influence of the depth of perfusion, blood volume, and source-detector spacing on the spectrum of the Doppler signal detected with large source-detector spacing. The influence of the depth of perfusion on the Doppler spectrum for the large source-detector spacing is different from that for the conventional laser Doppler instruments with small source-detector spacing, although the influence of source-detector spacing and blood volume on the Doppler spectrum for large source-detector spacing is almost the same as that for the conventional laser Doppler instruments. The influence of the depth of the perfusion on the Doppler spectrum depends on the path length that the detected light travels at different depths.     

Determination of thickness, refractive index, and thickness irregularity for semiconductor thin films from transmission spectra

A simplified theoretical model has been proposed to predict optical parameters such as thickness, thickness irregularity, refractive index, and extinction coefficient from transmission spectra. The proposed formula has been solved for thickness and thickness irregularity in the transparent region, and then the refractive index is calculated for the entire spectral region by use of the interference fringes order. The extinction coefficient is then calculated with the exact formula in the transparent region, and an appropriate model for the refractive index is used to solve for the extinction coefficient in the absorption region (where the interference fringes disappear). The proposed model is tested with the theoretical predicted data as well as experimental data. The calculation shows that the approximations used for solving a multiparameter nonlinear equation result in no significant errors.     

Time-averaged electronic speckle pattern interferometry in the presence of ambient motion. Part I. Theory and experiments

An electronic speckle pattern interferometer is introduced that can produce time-averaged interferograms of harmonically vibrating objects in instances where it is impractical to isolate the object from ambient vibrations. By subtracting two images of the oscillating object, rather than the more common technique of subtracting an image of the oscillating object from one of the static objects, interferograms are produced with excellent visibility even when the object is moving relative to the interferometer. This interferometer is analyzed theoretically and the theory is validated experimentally.     

Determination of target depth in a turbid medium with polarization-dependent transmitted signals

We demonstrate a novel method for target depth determination in a turbid medium with experiments and Monte Carlo simulations. This method relies on the strong dependence of transmitted co-polarized intensity on target depth. Such a dependence originates from the inclusion of certain diffuse photons in the co-polarized intensity. A target of stronger scattering located closer to the transmitter results in stronger photon divergence and hence weaker co-polarized intensity at the receiver of a finite aperture. On the other hand, the degree of polarization (DOP) carries only information about ballistic and snake photons. It is weakly dependent on the target depth. The DOP data can be used as a reference of absolute scattering strength in the turbid system. Our experimental and Monte Carlo simulation results show the feasibility of the proposed target depth determination method. Meanwhile, it is shown that an appropriate time-gating process could help in improving the accuracy of target depth. In addition, the results show that the proposed method has quite large applicable ranges of scattering coefficient and absorption coefficient.     

Determination of optimal subdivision of depth of cut in multipass turning with constraints

Optimal subdivision of total depth of cut during cost optimization in multipass turning is an important decision along with the selection of speed and feed. In this paper a new approach for the determination of the optimal subdivision of depth of cut is presented. The total production cost minimization is achieved by summation of the minimum costs of individual rough passes and the finish pass. The cost of each rough pass or finish pass is independently minimized. The optimal subdivision of total depth of cut is obtained using an integer programming model. The resulting subdivision of depth of cut yields a lower minimum cost than that obtained by using the commonly practised strategy of having minimum depth of cut in the finish pass and removing the remaining depth of cut in number of rough passes of equal size.     

Simultaneous measurement of velocity and length of moving surfaces by a speckle velocimeter with two self-mixing laser diodes

A novel laser speckle velocimeter with two self-mixing laser diodes (SM-LD's) for velocity and length measurements of moving surfaces is reported. The mean frequency of the speckle signal obtained in the measurement system depends on the surface path illuminated by the SM-LD. This behavior of the speckle signal in the SM-LD's is exploited to detect the front and the end edges of a target surface by sampling continuously the number of intensity changes in a speckle signal waveform. Once the edges are determined, the velocity and the length of the surface are calculated easily. The error for length and velocity measurements of a target with a homogeneous rough plane surface of 60-mm length, moving at a velocity of 200 mm/s, can be as low as 2.1% and 1.75%, respectively.     

Large deformation mechanical testing of biological membranes using speckle interferometry in transmission. I: Experimental apparatus

This paper describes an apparatus designed to study large mechanical deformations in biological membranes. The task of mechanically characterizing biological membranes is challenging because of the anisotropic and nonlinear nature of their material properties. The apparatus described here is well suited to the task because it uses speckle interferometry to measure in-plane displacements in a distributed fashion and has multiple degrees of freedom in the applied stress mechanism. In this way few a priori assumptions or restrictions are imposed on the applied stress and strain fields. The interferometer operates in transmission mode to increase the light efficiency of the system since the sample biological membranes are translucent and reflect little light. The experimental results confirm that the strain fields in the biological membranes that are generated in the experiments are highly nonuniform and cannot be properly estimated from a small number of point measurements.