In its simplest and most presently used form, laser Doppler velocimetry crosses two beams of collimated, monochromatic, and coherent laser light in the flow of the fluid being measured. The two beams are usually obtained by splitting a single beam, thus ensuring coherence between the two. Lasers with wavelengths in the visible spectrum (390–750 nm) are commonly used; these are typically He-Ne, Argon ion, or laser diode, allowing the beam path to be observed. A transmitting optics system focuses the beams to intersect at their waists (the focal point of a laser beam), where they interfere and generate a set of straight fringes. As particles (either naturally occurring or induced) entrained in the fluid pass through the fringes, they scatter light that is then collected by a receiving optics and focused on a photodetector (typically an avalanche photodiode).
The scattered light fluctuates in intensity, the frequency of which is equivalent to the Doppler shift between the incident and scattered light, and is thus proportional to the component of particle velocity which lies in the plane of two laser beams. If the sensor is aligned to the flow such that the fringes are perpendicular to the flow direction, the electrical signal from the photodetector will then be proportional to the full particle velocity. By combining three devices (e.g., He-Ne, Argon ion, and laser diode) with different wavelengths, all three flow velocity components can be simultaneously measured.
Another form of laser Doppler velocimetry, particularly used in early device developments, has a completely different approach akin to an interferometer. The sensor also splits the laser beam into two parts; one (the measurement beam) is focused into the flow and the second (the reference beam) passes outside the flow. A receiving optics provides a path that intersects the measurement beam, forming a small volume. Particles passing through this volume will scatter light from the measurement beam with a Doppler shift; a portion of this light is collected by the receiving optics and transferred to the photodetector. The reference beam is also sent to the photodetector where optical heterodyne detection produces an electrical signal proportional to the Doppler shift, by which the particle velocity component perpendicular to the plane of the beams can be determined.
The signal detection scheme of the instrument is using the principle of optical heterodyne detection. This principle is similar to other laser Doppler-based instruments such as laser Doppler vibrometer, or laser surface velocimeter. It is possible to apply digital techniques to the signal to obtain the velocity as a measured fraction of the speed-of-light, and therefore in one sense Laser Doppler velocimetry is a particularly fundamental measurement traceable to the S.I. system of measurement.