Abstract: In a method of measuring velocity gradients in a sample volume (2) in a flowing medium, by which method radiation scattered by particles entrained by the medium and irradiated by spatially coherent electromagnetic radiation, in particular laser light, is detected and measured and the difference in Doppler shift in the radiation from different particles in the sample volume (2) used as a measure of the velocity gradient, an optical element (3) is inserted in the radiation path from particles in the sample volume (2) to the detector (4). The optical element (3) has such properties that essentially only radiation scattered simultaneously from particle pairs in the sample volume (2) spaced apart a distance determined by the optical element (3) are made part of the measuring signals to be combined to form the signal which is a measure of the difference in the Doppler shifts and thereby of the velocity gradient in the sample volume (2) defined by the measurement points.