Automating the Extraction of Photon Doppler Velocimetry Data

Los Alamos National Laboratory Computer Science/Physics, 2019-20

Liaison(s): Candace Joggerst ’04
Advisor(s): Peter Saeta
Students(s): Nicholas Koskelo (PM), Max Treutelaar, Trevor Walker, Isabel Duan (S), Rikki Walters (S)

Photon Doppler velocimetry uses the frequency shift of a light wave reflecting from a moving surface to measure surface velocity with high spatial and temporal resolution. We automate processing photon Doppler velocimetry data sampled at up to 50 GHz to yield surface velocities and associated uncertainties. Our algorithms handle spectrograms with both frequency- and time-multiplexed data. We describe the advantages and disadvantages of several algorithms we have implemented.