Holographic resolution of complex sound fields

Claim 1

Apparatus for determining the spatial distribution of an acoustic field along a boundary wall of an acoustically excited structure, said apparatus comprising: a sensor array mounted to at least a portion of said boundary wall of said acoustically excited structure, said sensor array including a plurality of individual spaced apart sensors of predetermined geometry, each of said individual sensors being elastically deformable by incident acoustic energy, each of said sensors including a surface layer that is diffusely reflective to impingent light energy; holographic recording means for supplying at least two holographic records of light energy reflected from said sensor array, said holographic recording means including a source of monochromatic light energy for selectively generating pulses of monochromatic light in response to an applied trigger signal, first optical means for directing a portion of each pulse of said monochromatic light to said sensor array and for forming a reference beam, second optical means for receiving and combining said reference beam and at least a portion of the monochromatic light reflected from said sensor array, and photosensitive recording means for recording an image representative of said combined light supplied by said second optical means; detector means positioned for response to said acoustic field within said acoustically excited structure, said detector means including for supplying a signal having a frequency substantially equal to that of the dominant acoustic signal within said acoustically excited structure; and trigger means responsive to said signal supplied by said detector means for supplying said trigger signal to said source of monochromatic light at a frequency substantially equal to said dominant acoustic signal within said acoustically excited structure, said trigger means including means for supplying a first pair of trigger signals to said source of monochromatic light that are spaced apart in time by nT/2, where n is an odd integer and T is the period of said dominant acoustic signal, said first pair of trigger signals causing said source of monochromatic light to doubly expose said photosensitive means and form a first holographic interferogram, said trigger means further including means for supplying a second pair of trigger signals that are spaced apart in time by nT/2 with the first trigger signal of said second pair of trigger signals being spaced apart in time from the final trigger signal of said first pair of trigger signals by mT/4, where m is an odd integer, said second pair of trigger signals causing said source of monochromatic light to doubly expose said photosensitive means and form a second halographic interferogram.

Claim 7

A method for determining the spatial distribution of a sound field at the boundary wall of an acoustically excited structure comprising the steps of: (a) mounting an array of spaced apart acoustic transducers over at least a portion of said boundary wall, each individual transducer within said array being elastically deformable in response to incident sound energy; (b) determining the period, T, of the dominant acoustic signal within said sound field; (c) irradiating said array of acoustic transducers with a pulse of coherent light of a time duration substantially shorter than T to form a reflected pulse of light; (d) optically combining at least a portion of said pulse of coherent light that impinges on said array of acoustic transducers with at least a portion of said reflected pulse of light to form a first optical diffraction pattern; (e) exposing a photosensitive material to said first optical diffraction pattern to form a photographic image thereof; (f) forming a second optical diffraction pattern by irradiating said array of acoustic transducers with a pulse of coherent light that is supplied at a time nT/2 subsequent to the time at which said pulse of coherent light of said first optical diffraction pattern is supplied, where n is an odd integer; (g) exposing a photosensitive material to said second optical diffraction pattern to form a photograhic image thereof; (h) superimposing said photographic images of said first and second optical diffraction patterns to provide an interfermoetric record representative of the differential displacement of said transducers within said array of transducers and the region of said boundary wall upon which said array is mounted; (i) repeating steps (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) and (h) to form a second interferometric record with the first pulse of coherent light for forming said second interferometric record being generated at a time mT/4 subsequent to the generation of said second pulse of coherent light for forming said first interferometric record, where m is an odd integer; (j) optically scanning each of said first and second interferometric records along a plurality of predetermined scanning paths to supply a set of signals representative of variations in optical density along each scanning path; and (k) processing said signals to determine the amplitude and phase constants of the modal components of said sound field.

Claim 8

A method for determining the spatial distribution of a sound field at the boundary wall of an acoustically excited structure comprising the steps of: (a) mounting an array of spaced apart acoustic transducers over at least a portion of said boundary wall, each individual transducer within said array being elastically deformable in response to incident sound energy; (b) determining the period, T, of the dominant acoustic signal within said sound field; (c) irradiating said array of acoustic transducers with a pulse of coherent light of a time duration substantially shorter than T to form a reflected pulse of light; (d) optically combining at least a portion of said pulse of coherent light that impinges on said array of acoustic transducers with at least a portion of said reflected pulse of light to form a first optical diffraction pattern; (e) exposing a photosensitive material to said first optical diffraction pattern to form a photographic image thereof; (f) forming a second optical diffraction pattern by irradiating said array of acoustic transducers with a pulse of coherent light that is supplied at a time nT/2 subsequent to the time at which said pulse of coherent light of said first optical diffraction pattern is supplied, where n is an odd integer; (g) exposing a photosensitive material to said second optical diffraction pattern to form a photograhic image thereof; (h) superimposing said photographic images of said first and second optical diffraction patterns to provide an interfermoetric record representative of the differential displacement of said transducers within said array of transducers and the region of said boundary wall upon which said array is mounted; (i) repeating steps (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) and (h) to form a second interferometric record with the first pulse of coherent light for forming said second interferometric record being generated at a time mT/4 subsequent to the generation of said second pulse of coherent light for forming said first interferometric record, where m is an odd integer; (j) optically scanning each of said first and second interferometric records along a plurality of predetermined scanning paths to supply a set of signals representative of variations in optical density along each scanning path; and (k) processing said signals to determine the amplitude and phase constants of the modal components of said sound field.