Laser speckle based digital optical methods in structural mechanics: A review

Abstract

Laser Speckle Correlation, Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry and Digital Holographic interferometry have evolved for decades to become relevant techniques in many fields of today’s wide spectrum of knowledge and disciplines. Indeed, with today׳s advances in optics, photonics, electronics and computing there are many important applications for them and strictly speaking there are an almost infinite number of applications that one can think of, as they are non-contact optical techniques that can be used to measure mechanical parameters ranging from a few microns to hundreds of nanometers. In this review we will explore and discuss some relevant applications in structural mechanics in the fields of materials in engineering, biomedical and art preservation and restoration. This work will take the reader from a succinct historical account on the development of these techniques, followed by a brief theoretical description for each one that will then facilitate the introduction of the results chosen as the key applications, ending the review with the conclusions. From the myriad of papers now available in the web, we will only present those that we believe are the most illustrative applications within three lustrum, 2000 to 2015, all set to give a frame that place these optical techniques as mature technologies with an absolute relevance to conduct metrology in many fields.