A BALLISTIC RANGE EXPERIMENT TO MEASURE ELECTRON DENSITY PROFILES WITH HOLOGRAPHIC INTERFEROMETRY

THE INNOVATIVE PROPOSED HEREIN CONCERNS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HOLOGRAPHIC DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUE FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRON DENSITY PROFILES IN THE FLOWS OVER A RV BALLISTIC RANGE MODEL. AN EXPERIMENT IS IDENTIFIED IN WHICH HOLOGRAPHIC PLASMA MEASUREMENTS WILL BE USED FOR REFINEMENT AND VALIDATION OF COMPUTATIONAL FLOW/CHEMISTRY ANALYSIS. THE TECHNICAL APPROACH IS BASED ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TWO-WAVELENGTH HOLOGRAPHIC INTERFEROMETER COMPRISED OF AN INTEGRATED HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SYSTEM: INCLUDING A SYSTEM FOR HOLOGRAM RECORDING, FOR INTERFEROMETRY ANALYSIS, AND FOR INVERSION OF THE INTERFEROMETRY DATA INTO SPATIALLY RESOLVED PLASMA PROFILES. AN INTEGRATED METHODOLOGY WILL BE ESTABLISHED FOR ANALYSIS OF THE HOLOGRAPHY DATA AND FOR REFINEMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE COMPUTATIONAL FLOW/CHEMISTRY ANALYSIS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS HOLOGRAPHIC PLASMA DIAGNOSTIC WILL PROVIDE A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN THE FLOW/CHEMISTRY DATA OBTAINED IN BALLISTIC RANGE TESTING.