Schlieren photography
Schlieren photography
Any technique for the photographic recording of schlieren, which are regions or stria in a medium that is surrounded by a medium of different refractive index. Refractive index gradients in transparent media cause light rays to bend (refract) in the direction of increasing refractive index. This is a result of the reduced light velocity in a higher-refractive-index material. This phenomenon is exploited in viewing the schlieren, with schlieren photographs as the result. Electronic video recorders, scanning diode array cameras, and holography are widely used as supplements. See Holography, Refraction of waves
There are many techniques for optically enhancing the appearance of the schlieren in an image of the field of interest. In the oldest of these, called the knife-edge method (see illustration), a point or slit source of light is collimated by a mirror and passed through a field of interest, after which a second mirror focuses the light, reimaging the point or slit where it is intercepted by an adjustable knife edge (commonly a razor blade). The illustration shows the “z” configuration which minimizes the coma aberration in the focus. Mirrors are most often used because of the absence of chromatic aberration. See Aberration (optics)
Rays of light that are bent by the schlieren in the direction of the knife edge are intercepted and removed from the final image of the region of interest, causing those regions to appear dark. Consequently, the system is most sensitive to the density gradients that are perpendicular to the knife edge. The knife edge is commonly mounted on a rotatable mount so that it can be adjusted during a measurement to optimally observe different gradients in the same field of interest. The intensity in the processed image is proportional to the refractive index gradient. A gradient in the same direction as the knife edge appears dark. Gradients in the opposite direction appear bright. This method, employed with arc light sources, is still one of the simplest ways to view refractive index changes in transparent solids, liquids, and gases. A well-designed schlieren system can easily detect the presence of a refractive index gradient that causes 1 arc-second deviation of a light ray.
Except for locating and identifying schlieren-causing events such as turbulent eddies, shock waves, and density gradients, schlieren systems are usually considered to be qualitative instruments. Quantitative techniques for determining density are possible but are much more difficult to employ. The most common of these is color schlieren. The knife edge is replaced with a multicolored filter. Rays of light refracted through different angles appear in different colors in the final image.
The availability of lasers and new optical components has expanded the method considerably. When a coherent light source such as a laser is used, the knife edge can be replaced by a variety of phase-, amplitude-, or polarization-modulating filters to produce useful transformations in the image intensity. See Interferometry, Laser, Polarized light