ANALYSIS AND QUANTIFICATION OF A SOLID-STATE LASER-DOPPLER ANEMOMETER

A single component, visible wavelength, heterodyne laser Doppler anemo meter was constructed based on solid-state laser diode technology for use in fluid dynamic research, With the recent advancements in solid-s tate laser diodes and solid state avalanche photodiodes, it is possibl e to construct miniature laser Doppler anemometer systems solely emplo ying solid-state technology. Such systems have the advantages of small size, light weight, low-power consumption,low cost, and ruggedness, T he subject of the current research was to quantitatively evaluate a mi niaturized laser Doppler anemometer system constructed with visible la ser diodes and an avalanche photodiode detector, Evaluation measuremen ts in a turbulent, stagnating jet are presented and compared to both h ot-wire and five-hole probe data, The miniature solid-state laser Dopp ler anemometer system war found to agree within 2% for mean velocities and agree within 5-20% for root mean square turbulent velocities,