Accuracy and precision in photonic Doppler velocimetry

While photonic Doppler velocimetry (PDV) is becoming a common diagnostic in dynamic compression research, its limiting accuracy and precision are not well understood. Velocity resolution is known to be inversely proportional to the time resolution, but resolution estimates differ by one to two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, resolution varies with the number of recorded signals and how these signals are analyzed. Numerical simulations reveal factors that affect accuracy and precision in PDV, and the results may be extended to a broad class of measurements. After systematic effects are eliminated, the limiting velocity uncertainty in a PDV measurement is governed by the sampling rate, the signal noise fraction, and the analysis time duration. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3429257]