MetroLaser

Schlieren Instruments

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fast, portable, sensitive, and easy to use Imaging Technology

Schlieren Streak Camera

MetroLaser - Delivering leading edge optical and laser solutions

Spectabit Optics LLC has also licensed a galvanometer-based digital schlieren streak camera design from MetroLaser Inc. The original camera was designed by Ben Buckner and Drew L’Esperance at MetroLaser for imaging of supersonic rocket sled tests under an SBIR contract for the U.S. Air Force (Contract No. FA9201-08-C-0260) and was successfully demonstrated at the Holloman High Speed Test Track. That highly ruggedized unit was intended to operate in conditions in the desert near the track, so it is overbuilt for many applications, but the basic design can potentially be applied to many streak camera applications. The main advantage over other rotating mirror streak camera designs is that the galvanometer mirror can be synchronized with targets on the fly, so it is uniquely suited to situations where the target velocity is variable or unpredictable. These cameras are not available as a standard product, but please contact Spectabit Optics LLC regarding applications for which the design can be adapted.

Several press articles on the original system have appeared on sites such as optics.org, and it is more thoroughly described in a 2013 paper for Optical Engineering by Spectabit Optics LLC cofounders Ben Buckner and Drew L’Esperance.

MetroLaser - Delivering leading edge optical and laser solutions
Schlieren Streak Image of Shotgun Pellets in Flight