Mike Grover

High pressure sensing and dynamics using high speed fiber Bragg grating interrogation systems

Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are developing into useful sensing tools for measuring high pressure dynamics in extreme environments under shock loading conditions. Approaches using traditional diode array coupled FBG interrogation systems are often limited to readout speeds in the sub-MHz range. For shock wave physics, required detection speeds approaching 100 MHz are desired. We explore the use of two types of FBG sensing systems that are aimed at applying this technology as embedded high pressure probes for transient shock events. Both approaches measure time resolved spectral shifts in the return light from short (few mm long) uniform FBGs at 1550 nm. In the first approach, we use a fiber coupled spectrometer to demultiplex spectral channels into an array (up to 12) of single element InGaAs photoreceivers. By monitoring the detectors during a shock impact event with high speed recording, we are able to track the pressure induced spectral shifting in FBG down to a time resolution of 20 ns. In the second approach, developed at the Special Technologies Lab, a coherent mode-locked fiber laser is used to illuminate the FBG sensor. After the sensor, wavelength-to-time mapping is accomplished with a chromatic dispersive element, and entire spectra are sampled using a single detector at the modelocked laser repetition rate of 50 MHz. By sampling with a 12 GHz InGaAs detector, direct wavelength mapping in time is recorded, and the pressure induced FBG spectral shift is sampled at 50 MHz. Here, the sensing systems are used to monitor the spectral shifts of FBGs that are immersed into liquid water and shock compressed using explosives. In this configuration, the gratings survive to pressures approaching 50 kbar. We describe both approaches and present the measured spectral shifts from the shock experiments.

Ejecta Particle-Size Measurements in Vacuum and Helium Gas using Ultraviolet In-Line Fraunhofer Holography

An Ultraviolet (UV) in-line Fraunhofer holography diagnostic has been developed for making high-resolution spatial measurements of ejecta particles traveling at many mm/μsec. This report will discuss the development of the diagnostic including the high-powered laser system and high-resolution optical relay system. In addition, the system required to reconstruct the images from the hologram and the corresponding analysis of those images to extract particles will also be described. Finally, results from six high-explosive (HE), shock-driven Sn ejecta experiments will be presented. Particle size distributions will be shown that cover most of the ejecta velocities for experiments conducted in a vacuum, and helium gas environments. In addition, a modification has been made to the laser system that produces two laser pulses separated by 6.8 ns. This double-pulsed capability allows a superposition of two holograms to be acquired at two different times, thus allowing ejecta velocities to be measured directly. Results from this double pulsed experiment will be described.

Design, assembly, and testing of a high-resolution relay lens used for holography with operation at both doubled and tripled Nd:YAG laser wavelengths

The design and assembly of a nine-element lens that achieves >2000 lp/mm resolution at a 355-nm wavelength (ultraviolet) has been completed. By adding a doublet to this lens system, operation at a 532-nm wavelength (green) with >1100 lp/mm resolution is achieved. This lens is used with high-power laser light to record holograms of fast-moving ejecta particles from a shocked metal surface located inside a test package. Part of the lens and the entire test package are under vacuum with a 1-cm air gap separation. Holograms have been recorded with both doubled and tripled Nd:YAG laser light. The UV operation is very sensitive to the package windows tilt. If this window is tilted by more than 0.1 degrees, the green operation performs with better resolution than that of the UV operation. The setup and alignment are performed with green light, but the dynamic recording can be done with either UV light or green light. A resolution plate can be temporarily placed inside the test package so that a television microscope located beyond the hologram position can archive images of resolution patterns that prove that the calibration wires, interference filter, holographic plate, and relay lenses are in their correct positions. Part of this lens is under vacuum, at the point where the laser illumination passes through a focus. Alignment and tolerancing of this high-resolution lens are presented. Resolution variation across the 12-mm field of view and throughout the 5-mm depth of field is discussed for both wavelengths.

Observations of shock-loaded tin and zirconium surfaces with single-pulse X-ray diffraction

A single-pulse X-ray diffraction (XRD) diagnostic has been developed for the investigation of shocked material properties on a very short time scale. The diagnostic, which consists of a 37-stage Marx bank high-voltage pulse generator coupled to a needle-and-washer electron beam diode via coaxial cable, produces line-and-bremsstrahlung X-ray emission in a 40 ns pulse. The molybdenum anode produces 0.71 A characteristic K lines used for diffraction. The X-ray beam passes through a pinhole collimator and is incident on the sample with an approximately 2 mm×5 mm spot and 1° full width at half maximum angular divergence. Coherent scattering from the sample produces a Debye-Scherrer diffraction pattern on an image plate located at 75 mm from the polycrystalline sample surface. An experimental study of the polycrystalline structures of zirconium and tin under high-pressure shock loading has been conducted with single-pulse XRD. The experimental targets were 0.1-mm-thick foils of zirconium and tin using 0.4-mm-thick vitreous carbon back windows for shock loading, and the shocks were produced by either Detasheet or PBX-9501 high explosives buffered by 1-mm-thick 6061-T6 aluminum. The diffraction patterns from both shocked zirconium and tin indicated a phase transition into a polymorphic mix of amorphous and new solid phases.

High-Resolution UV Relay Lens for Particle Size Distribution Measurements Using Holography

Shock waves passing through a metal sample can produce ejecta particulates at a metal-vacuum interface. Holography records particle size distributions by using a high-power, short-pulse laser to freeze particle motion. The sizes of the ejecta particles are recorded using an in-line Fraunhofer holography technique. Because the holographic plate would be destroyed in an energetic environment, a high-resolution lens has been designed to relay the scattered and unscattered light to a safe environment where the interference fringes are recorded on film. These interference fringes allow particles to be reconstructed within a 12-mm-diameter, 5-mm-thick volume. To achieve resolution down to 0.5 μm, both a high-resolution optical relay lens and ultraviolet laser (UV) light were implemented. The design and assembly of a nine-element lens that achieves >2000 lp/mm resolution and operates at f/0.89 will be described. To set up this lens system, a doublet lens is temporarily attached that enables operation with 532-nm laser light and 1100 lp/mm resolution. Thus, the setup and alignment are performed with green light, but the dynamic recording is done with UV light. During setup, the 532-nm beam provides enough focus shift to accommodate the placement of a resolution target outside the ejecta volume; this resolution target does not interfere with the calibrated wires and pegs surrounding the ejecta volume. A television microscope archives images of resolution patterns that prove that the calibration wires, interference filter, holographic plate, and relay lenses are in their correct positions. Part of this lens is under vacuum, at the point where the laser illumination passes through a focus. Alignment and tolerancing of this high-resolution lens will be presented, and resolution variation through the 5-mm depth of field will be discussed.

D-25 Observations of Shocked Metallic Surfaces with Single-Pulse X-ray Diffraction

A single-pulse X-ray diffraction (XRD) diagnostic has been developed for the investigation of shocked material properties on a very short time scale. The diagnostic, which consists of a 37-stage Marx bank high-voltage pulse generator coupled to a needle-and-washer electron beam diode via coaxial cable, produces line and bremsstrahlung X-ray emission in a 40-ns pulse. A selected anode of either silver or molybdenum produces characteristic K lines used for diffraction. The X-ray beam passes through a pinhole collimator and is incident on the sample with an approximately 2-mm by 5-mm spot and 1-width-half-maximum angular divergence. Coherent scattering from the sample produces a Debye-Scherrer diffraction pattern on an image plate 75 mm from the polycrystalline sample surface. An experimental study of the polycrystalline structures of zirconium and tin under high-pressure shock loading has been conducted with single-pulse XRD. The experimental targets were 0.1-mm-thick foils of zirconium and tin using 0.4-mm-thick vitreous carbon back windows for shock-loading, and the shocks were produced by either Detasheet or PBX-9501 high explosives buffered by 1-mm-thick 6061-T6 aluminum. The diffraction patterns from both shocked zirconium and tin indicated a phase transition into a polymorphic mix of amorphous and new solid phases.