Abstract

In this paper we report on the polarization properties of a BSO autocorrelator used for fast transparency analysis in particle image velocimetry(PIV). The autocorrelator is an optical parallel dataprocessing unit that estimate the velocity distribution of a particle flow. The correlator uses the two beam coupling configuration shown in Fig. 1(a). The input to the optical processor is the PIV-transparency that is a double exposure photograph of the particle flow. The output of the processor is the autocorrelation function which consists of two side peaks and a central spot. The distance between the peaks and their relative orientation determine the velocity and the direction of the flow. In this work we compare the exprimental results from the autocorrelator with an analytical theory from a coupled-wave theory.

© 1992 Optical Society of America