Measurement of three-dimensional shapes using Light-in-Flight recording by holography

Light-in-Flight recording by holography makes it possible to perlorm accurate three-dimensional shape measurements by single-line contouring. Because ultrashort light pulses are used, both stationary and moving objects may be recorded, e.g., fast-rotating turbine blades, mobile scale models, active human beings, etc. The evaluation is accomplished by an image processing system that reads the contouring line that varies along the hologram and transforms it into spatial coordinates, thereby measuring the three-dimensional shape. There are a number of possible application areas of the method, ranging from practical engineering to medicine.