Axial scanning laser Doppler velocimeter using wavelength change without moving mechanism in sensor probe

A scanning laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) without any moving mechanism in its sensor probe is proposed. In the proposed scanning LDV, the measurement position is axially scanned by change in the wavelength of the light input to the sensor probe, instead of using a moving mechanism in the sensor probe. For this purpose, a tunable laser and diffraction gratings are used, and the sensor probe including the gratings is separated from the main body including the tunable laser. To demonstrate the scanning function based on the proposed concept, an experiment was conducted using optical fibers, a commercial tunable laser and a setup of the sensor probe consisting of bulk optical components. As the experimental result, it is found that the measurement positions estimated from the measured beat frequencies are in good agreement with the theoretical values. The scan ranges over a wavelength range of 30 nm are estimated to be 29.3 mm when the beam angle to the measurement position at the wavelength of 1540 nm is 10° and 20.8 mm when the beam angle is 15°. The result indicates that the scanning function by means of changing the wavelength input to the sensor probe is successfully demonstrated for the first time. The proposed method has the potential for realizing a scanning LDV with a simple, compact and reliable sensor probe.