Some applications of holography at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

A project was recently completed that investigated possible uses of holography in the nuclear reactor safety program. A portable holographic camera which uses a pulsed ruby laser for illumination was constructed and used in various studies, including several designed to clarify the properties of steam/water mixtures that occur during loss-of-coolant accidents in nuclear reactors. The flexibility of the camera's optical configuration also enables it to produce holographic interferograms, which have several advantages over conventional interferograms and which can be used to measure very small physical changes in a given environment