Simultaneous monitoring of ablative shocks in air by high-speed cineholography and multiple-pass beam deflection probe

Two complementary techniques have been developed to monitor the spatial and temporal evolution of non-reproducible optodynamic events. These techniques have been applied to investigate the shock dynamics resulting from the laser ablation of metallic samples. A high-speed cineholography system provides a sequence of spatially resolved information (8 holograms separated by 28 ns) while a beam deflection probe provides temporally resolved information at 6 discrete spatial points over a 4.5 mm distance above the target.