New concept for laser measurement of angular vibrations

With the new approach described here, the two tangential velocity components needed are acquired separately using the principle of optical heterodyne interferometry, and combined to provide rotational information after having been converted into electrical signals. Due to the heterodyning with the unshifted reference beam, this provides an optical amplification of each measurement beam, and thus significantly increases the optical sensitivity of the system.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.