Self-mixing dual-frequency laser Doppler velocimeter.

A self-mixing (SM) dual-frequency (DF) laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) (SM DF-LDV) is proposed and studied, which integrates the advantages of both the SM-LDV and the DF-LDV. An optically injected semiconductor laser operated in a dual-frequency period-one (P1) dynamical state is used as the light source. By probing the target with the light-carried microwave generated from the beat of the two optical frequency components, the spectral broadening in the Doppler signal due to the speckle noise can be significantly reduced. Together with an SM configuration, the SM DF-LDV has the advantages of direction discriminability, self-alignment, high sensitivity, and compact setup. In this study, speckle noise reduction and direction discriminability with an SM DF-LDV are demonstrated. The signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) at different feedback powers are investigated. Benefiting from the high sensitivity of the SM configuration, an SNR of 23 dB is achieved without employing an avalanched photodetector or photomultiplier tube. The velocity resolution and the SNR under different speckle noise conditions are studied. Average velocity resolution of 0.42 mm/s and SNR of 22.1 dB are achieved when a piece of paper is rotating at a transverse velocity of 5 m/s. Compared with a conventional single-frequency LDV (SF-LDV), the SM DF-LDV shows improvements of 20-fold in the velocity resolution and 8 dB in the SNR.