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A high-speed imaging device has been built that is capable of recording several hundred images over a time span of 25 to 400 ns. The imager is based on a streak camera, which provides both spatial and temporal resolution. The system's current angular resolution is 16 X 16 pixels, with a time resolution of 250 ps. It was initially employed to provide 3-D images of objects, in conjunction with a short-pulse (approximately 100 ps) laser. For the 3-D (angle-angle-range) laser radar, the 250 ps time resolution corresponds to a range resolution of 4 cm. In the 3-D system, light from a short-pulse laser (a frequency-doubled, Q-switched, mode-locked Nd:YAG laser operating at a wavelength of 532 nm) flood-illuminates a target of linear dimension approximately 1 m. The returning light from the target is imaged, and the image is dissected by a 16 X 16 array of optical fibers. At the other end of the fiber optic image converter, the 256 fibers form a vertical line array, which is input to the slit of a streak camera. The streak camera sweeps the input line across the output phosphor screen so that horizontal position is directly proportional to time. The resulting 2-D image (fiber location vs. time) at the phosphor is read by an intensified (SIT) vidicon TV tube, and the image is digitized and stored. A computer subsequently decodes the image, unscrambling the linear pixels into an angle-angle image at each time or range bin. We are left with a series of snapshots, each one depicting the portion of target surface in a given range bin. The pictures can be combined to form a 3-D realization of the target. Continuous recording of many images over a short time span is of use in imaging other transient phenomena. These applications share a need for multiple images from a nonrepeatable transient event of time duration on the order of nanoseconds. Applications discussed for the imager include (1) pulsed laser beam diagnostics -- measuring laser beam spatial and temporal structure, (2) reflectivity monitoring during pulsed laser annealing of microelectronics, and (3) detonics or shock wave research, especially microscopic studies of shocks produced by laser pulses.
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