On the use of laser light sources in schlieren-

interferometer systems
B y A. K. O p p e n h e i m , P. A. U r t ie w and F. J. W e i n b e r g |
University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A

(Communicatedby A . G. Gaydon, F.R.JS.—9 August 1965)

[Plates 7 to 10]

In the recording of refractive index fields, the exceedingly high monochromatic brightness
of laser light sources opens up new possibilities where applications to very fast or highly
self-luminous phenomena are concerned. The properties of laser light, however, pose special
problems, as well as presenting special opportunities. These are examined in relation to
schlieren recording, deflexion mapping, shadowgraphy and interferometry. The ultimate
aim is the development of a 4versatile * optical system which is capable of fulfilling all these
functions with only minor readjustments in its optical components. This is achieved, for
laser light, without either the expensive apparatus, or the considerable intensity losses with
which such systems are otherwise associated.

I n t r o d u c t io n
The methods of interferometry, schlieren and shadow recording have found a wide
range of applications in the measurement and display of refractive index fields—
and hence of distributions of density, temperature or other parameters—in gases.
The steep refractive index gradients associated with premixed flames have,
additionally, made possible the use of direct deflexion mapping as a method for
the study of their structure (see, for example Burgoyne & Weinberg 1954; Levy &
Weinberg 1959). Such optical methods have been summarized in texts by Holder,
North & Wood (1956) with reference to visualization in wind tunnels, and by
Weinberg (1963 a) with reference to the optics of combustion processes. Both
these monographs, as well as previous major reviews (e.g. Schardin 1942; Beams,
Ladenburg & Bershader 1955; Weinberg 1961) were written before the use of laser
light sources became widespread. As the phenomena studied continue to tend to
higher temperatures and velocities, lasers are likely to play an increasingly im­
portant role. Their exceedingly high monochromatic brightness makes it possible
to ‘freeze ’ very rapidly moving phenomena such as detonation waves, at exposure
times of the order of 10~9 s with the help of Kerr cell shutters and their use, to ­
gether with suitable filters, is the most promising avenue to ‘outshining’ arcs and
plasma jets and thus allowing the extension of optical methods to such phenomena.
However, these special opportunities are accompanied by special problems,
chiefly of two kinds. The first is that, with the exception of interferometry, the
methods considered are based on the hypotheses of geometrical optics i.e. the
interpretation is based on the concept of individual rays, each of which obeys
certain laws, without interacting with any other. This approximation is usually
•j- Visiting Professor at University of California j usual address. Imperial College of Science
and Technology, London, S.W.7.
[ 279 ] 18-3
280 A. K. Oppenheim, P. A. Urtiew and F. J. Weinberg
acceptable with normal extended light sources (except a t very high sensitivities)
but ceases to be so for the parallel, monochromatic and coherent laser light. The
second difficulty is a practical counterpart of the first. In consequence of the
parallelism of the light beams, undistorted images a t the foci of the system tend to
be very small, their finite extent being largely th a t of their diffraction patterns
caused by the confining apertures. The combination of this with the large energy
fluxes involved in ruby laser flashes is very damaging to optical components placed
at focal points and rules out the use of, for example, diffraction gratings or
photographically produced neutral wedges in these positions.
This second obstacle is not serious with continuously run gas lasers. Although the
present work arose out of research involving instantaneous schlieren recording by
means of a ruby laser of events during the onset of detonation, it was found con­
venient to do much of the preliminary work with a gas laser,f both because a
steady light source is more suitable for setting up procedures and because the two
kinds of difficulty could be separated in this way. Thus, it is possible to study the
effect of a gradual variation in absorption a t the focus of the schlieren mirror, by
using a photographic neutral wedge, with a gas laser. W ith the exception of the
rate of energy release, the properties of the two sources are closely similar, even
to the wave length of the radiation emitted which is 6943 A for the ruby laser and
6328 A for the helium-neon gas laser.
The objective of the present work was to overcome these difficulties associated
with laser light, and moreover, to achieve this in a particular type of optical
system. The requirements regarding the latter were th a t it should be capable of
interferometry, deflexion mapping and the entire range of schlieren methods,
requiring only minor adjustments to convert it from one function to another; th a t
it should be relatively inexpensive, easy to adjust and not subject to large light
losses.
Various attem pts have previously been made to achieve these ends with normal
light sources, but none of them was successful in all respects. The reasons why a
combination of these facilities would be desirable are th a t while shadowgraphy
and schlieren methods make the refractive index field visible, deflexion mapping
and interferometry allow its accurate measurement. In such measurement, inter-
ferograms portray the distribution of optical path, while deflexion mapping gives
its first derivative with respect to distance (and shadowgraphy, to a first approxi­
mation, its second derivative, though this is rarely used for quantitative work).
Because of the complementarity of these methods and the overlap of their ranges
of usefulness (Weinberg 1963 a) their combination is particularly valuable, in view
of the large range of refractive index gradients encountered in gases (e.g. in the
structure of a detonation wave). Considerations such as these have led to the con­
struction of Mach-Zehnder interferometers associated with built-in schlieren systems
(see, for example, Drake, Eckert & Soehngen 1948). Such an association, however,
makes no provision for deflexion mapping and combines the great expense of
a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (plus th a t of the schlieren system) with its difficulty

t D.C. Model 160, Optics Technology Inc., Palo Alto, California.

 Laser light sources in schlierensystems
281
of adjustment. A system which is inexpensive, simple to adjust and fulfils all the
above-mentioned functions, b u t is wasteful of light, has been developed (Weinberg
19636) from the two-diffraction grating interferometer (Kraushaar 1950; Sterret &
Erwin 1952; Weinberg 1963 a; Pandya & Weinberg 1964). This device is unsuitable
for work with lasers, as will be shown. However, it has provided the model for the
apparatus to be discussed in the present work because it constitutes the closest
approach to the aims discussed above. Since it is not a generally familiar system
its principle is illustrated in figure 1(a), which shows one of its possible forms.
The angle subtended a t the first focus by the beam entering from j fills only
the lower half of the angular aperture of the schlieren mirror, The diffraction
grating, Gx,is such th a t with this beam as its zero order, the first order exactly
fills the upper half of the schlieren mirror. After becoming parallel, one of these
orders becomes the test beam and the other the reference beam. Following re­
convergence after S M 2, each of the beams again gives rise to many diffraction
orders on traversing the second grating, and these overlap those of the other beam
with a difference in order number of one. The camera, focused on the test space,
is placed in the order of maximum fringe legibility.
This interferometer system has a number of unique properties (for example, its
fringe spacing is almost independent of wavelength). Several of these were to be
incorporated in the present apparatus, chiefly th at of the layout being only
a trivial modification of the conventional parallel beam schlieren system. I t is
this th a t makes it readily convertible from one function to another and enables it
to fulfil several of them simultaneously. I t does, of course, imply th at in its role
as an interferometer a maximum of only half the mirror aperture is available for
the test space. A second desirable feature is th a t this interferometer is exceedingly
easy to adjust (by comparison, for example, with the Mach-Zehnder instrument)
with the infinite fringe condition occurring when the gratings are at the two foci
and it departs from this condition only gradually, for relatively large grating dis­
placements. However, the device wastes all but two diffraction orders at each of
the two gratings and this would be quite unacceptable for the system envisaged
here. Thus an apparatus which could use laser light, based on a similar geometry
but on a different principle for beam splitting and recombination in its interfero­
metric role was the objective.

SCHLIEREN SYSTEMS

In accordance with previous usage and an attem pt to systematize nomenclature

(Weinberg 1963 a) the term ‘schlieren ’ systems is here confined to those in which
the receptor is optically conjugate with the test space and deflected regions are
marked by changes in illumination or colour, but not by any distortion of the
image. Schlieren methods are considered first because, as discussed, the optical
layouts throughout this study are based on the conventional parallel-beam
schlieren system. The particular arrangement used here, employing mirrors 46 cm
in diameter and 4 m focal length, is illustrated in figure 1(6). This geometry
differs somewhat from th at of figure 1 (a). The difference, as well as the unusually
282 A. K. Oppenheim, P. A. Urtiew and F. J. Weinberg
large size of the schlieren mirrors, was prompted by the particular requirements of
the eventual application of this apparatus demanding large fields of view in one
direction. I t will be seen th a t in the system of figure 1 (a ),a small fraction of the
test space area is obstructed by the plane mirrors P M , close to the optical axis.
This is avoided in the geometry 1(6), a t the cost, however, of introducing some
off-axis aberrations. These will be noticeable here only in the interferometer
arrangement, but it is worth bearing in mind th a t all the principles discussed
below are applicable to either geometry.

F igure 1. Basic optical systems, (a) Two diffraction grating interferometer. light
source; L, lens; PM , plane mirror; SM, spherical mirror; test se
aperture; R,receptor; G,condenser; PH , pin-
(6) Parallel-beam schlieren system.

The problems which arise when lasers are used in conventional knife-edge
schlieren systems are well illustrated by figure 2(a), plate 7—which indicated the
need for the present study—and in more structural detail by figure 3 (a), plate 8.
Figure 2 (a), plate 7, is a sequence of schlieren photographs taken by a flashing ruby
laser which records the propagation of a shock wave followed by a turbulent flame
in a tube of rectangular cross section 2-54 x 3-81 cm. The knife-edge was parallel
to the tube axis. I t will be seen that, contrary to expectations based on geometrical
optics, the records of features in the test space extend beyond regions in which the
phenomena themselves occur. In regions of strong marking (e.g. the leading shock
wave) the diffraction pattern in fact extends well beyond the confining boundaries
of each photograph. A more detailed examination of the structure of a steep
refractive index gradient, as in figure 3 (a), which is of a gas flame with knife-edge
vertical, reveals closely spaced fringes rather than the gradual distribution in
marking intensity characteristic of schlieren records. This appearance of laser
 Laser light sources in schlieren-interferometer systems 283
schlieren records, rather like interferograms, is apparent in photographs from other
investigations also and it precludes the conventional interpretation of the refrac­
tive index fields.
In terms of geometric theory, the variation of image illumination, I , with angle
of deflexion, 0, induced in the test space, can be expressed in terms of the variation
of light transmission, t, with position, p, a t the focus of the second schlieren mirror
as follows: k±

In tn f M ) Ap=rJM )F6coa^
t. (1)

where F is the focal length of the second schlieren mirror and <j) is the angle
between grad t and the direction of deflexion, while subscript 0 refers to = 0.
The particular circumstance which arises when a laser beam is used with the con­
ventional knife-edge is th a t on geometrical theory its image at the focus of the
schlieren mirror is a point of monochromatic light, in the absence of deflexions.
Thus, on this theory, (dt/dp)is infinite, and so is the contrast sensi
system. The range, on the other hand, is zero; i.e. the angle over which changes in
deflexion are marked by changes in illumination is infinitesimal, and the system
should be ‘on-off’ in operation.
The geometrical theory, however, is only an approximation which, in particular,
neglects all diffraction effects. The circumstances of infinite sensitivity are pre­
cisely those under which the approximation breaks down (Weinberg 1963 a). The
performance of schlieren systems has been examined in terms of wave theory,
subject to various simplifications: see, for example, Lord Rayleigh (1920), Schardin
(1942), Speak & W alters (1954), Linfoot (1946), Shafer (1949), Weinberg (1963a).
In fact the elementary theory (Lord Rayleigh 1920) of an infinitesimal source
(except for the fact th a t it refers to a line rather than a point) exemplifies, in this
respect, the particular properties of laser light. I t indicates (Speak & Walters
1954) th a t diffraction leads to the appearance of increased marking around all
boundaries restricting the aperture, giving rise to illumination also outside these
boundaries and rounding the contours of all deflexion profiles. These features
become more and more prominent as sensitivity is increased (Weinberg 1963 a),
and the ‘on-off’ response is never attained. Physically this stems from the fact
th a t a t the second focus the knife-edge interacts with the fringes of a diffraction
pattern rather than with a geometrical point of light.
There is, of course, no way of circumventing the wave nature of light but the
geometrical theory can be reinstated—at least as an approximation—and diffrac­
tion effects can be minimized by replacing the knife-edge by a neutral wedge with
a sufficiently gradual (dt/dp). This allows range and sensitivity to be suited to the
particular deflexion field under study, even with an hypothetical point of light,
and removes one straight edge which would otherwise strengthen the diffraction
pattern.
The effect of this modification is illustrated in figure 3. I t shows three records
obtained under identical conditions except for the marking aperture. In the case
of the knife-edge demonstrated by figure 3 (a) the variation is almost entirely in the
form of fringes, which arise as successive diffraction maxima are cut off by the
284 A. K. Oppenheim, P. A. Urtiew and F. J. Weinberg
knife-edge. Figure 3(6) taken with a photographically produced neutral wedge
(North, Holder & Wood 1956) and the gas laser, while retaining some of the in­
evitable diffraction effects, has the normal appearance of a schlieren record with
finite dt/dp,whose gradual variations can be interpreted in accordance wit
equation (1).
In the case of the ruby flash, a thermally much more robust arrangement than
a photographically produced neutral wedge is, of course, required. The use of
metal films on a quartz base is one possibility. For present purposes, however, an
alternative method based on the polarization of the laser light, was adopted.
A prism of quartz, or other suitable material which rotates the plane of polariza­
tion, will produce a final direction of polarization depending on the thickness
traversed and, hence, on the position of the incident beam. Thus plane-polarized
rays of approximately 6500 A wavelength entering a 30° quartz prism 1 cm
apart will emerge with their planes of polarization practically perpendicular to
one another. When such a prism is placed a t the focus of the second schlieren
mirror, and is followed by a sheet of polaroid anywhere beyond it, variation from
transmission to extinction will result for an angle of deflexion 6, in the test zone
givenby e-pif, (2)
w here/is the focal length of the second schlieren mirror and p is the distance along
the prism within which the angle of rotation changes by 90°. In this case
(equation (1)) follows a cosine law. Figure 3 (c) is a schlieren record of the test
object of figures 3 (a) and (6), taken by this method. The quartz prism was of 30°
and 90°, with the optical axis parallel to its shortest face. The incident beam was
made parallel to this direction and its undeflected position situated half way be­
tween regions of transmission and of complete extinction. Figure 2 (6) is the result
of applying the quartz prism-polaroid method to the detonation study with the
use of the ruby flash. I t shows none of the shortcomings of figure 2 (a) and provides
a clear and detailed record which can be interpreted.
This method has a number of interesting properties. W ith the undeflected beam
at a maximum or minimum in transmission (arranged either by moving the prism,
or rotating the polaroid filter) symmetrical marking results in the two directions
in the plane of the prism. The device then behaves as a confining slit rather than
a knife-edge. When prisms of larger angles are used, the illumination is made to
undergo successive extinctions and maxima over the range of deflexions produced
in the test space, resulting in ‘R onchi’ fringes. I t will be apparent th a t when
introduced elsewhere in the system, the prism-polaroid combination can be used
for deflexion mapping by producing fringes similar to those discussed in the
next section.
The introduction of a prism, of course, always results in deflexion of the whole
beam. While this can be compensated for by the use of a second complementary
prism, placing the receptor a t an angle to the original direction of the optical axis
generally presents no difficulty, while secondary interference fringes are likely to
be introduced by converting any optical element into a parallel-faced slab in laser
light, as discussed below.
F igure 2. Kerr cell modulated ruby laser sequence (2 x 105 frames/s ;exposure 10 ss each)
of schlieren records showing development of detonation in H 2 /O 2 at 120 mmHg, in
rectangular tube, (a) Schlieren stop is a horizontal knife-edge; (6) Schlieren stop is
quartz prism—polaroid combination.
(Facing p . 284 )
Oppenheim et al. Proc. Roy. Soc. , volume 2
A

(a) (b) (c)

knife-edge photographic neutral wedge quartz prism—polaroid
combination
F igure 3. Gas laser schlieren records of flame; marking apertures as shown.

F igure 4. Comparison of legibility of fringes with that of shadows cast by grid, at test
section (a, c) and 250 cm beyond it in the parallel beam (6, d). Interference fringes (a , 6)
produced by inclined glass slab near first focus. Shadows cast by Ronchi grid (c, d)
immediately ahead of test section.
Oppenheim Proc. Roy. Soc. A, volume 291, plate 9

F igure 5. Deflexion mapping records of flame on slot burner illustrating legibility of

(a) horizontal, and (b) inclined fringes in laminar and turbulent regimes.

F igure 7 F igure 8
F igure 7. Simultaneous interferometry and deflexion mapping by means of a grid of half
wave steps.
F igure 8. Parallel beam shadow of a flame illustrating diffraction effects obtained by a laser
source.
Opperiheim al. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, volume 291, plate 10

F igure 9. Approach to infinite fringe interferogram for an undisturbed test space

(maximum deviation 8 wavelengths over 46 cm).

(a) near infinite fringe setting (6) at finite fringe setting

(2*5 A/cm)
F igure 10. Interferograms of flames on a slot burner.
er light sources in schlierensystems 285

D e f l e x io n m a p p in g
This section deals with recording deflexion distributions as distorted shapes,
which can be measured with much greater accuracy than the blackening on photo­
graphic emulsions.
Perhaps the simplest system is th a t in which a grid of alternate opaque and
transparent strips is introduced into the parallel beam which transluminates the
test space; the distorted grid shadow is then recorded on a photographic plate (see,
for example, Burgoyne & Weinberg 1954). The accuracy is limited by the relative
magnitudes of the angle of deflexion to be measured and the angle of uncertainty
in reading the record, caused by the spread of the diffraction pattern of each slit.
As sensitivity is increased (e.g. by increasing separation of the receptor) the width
of the diffraction pattern increases in proportion to the displacement. This interacts
with the determinacy of the position of origin of the deflexion; the narrower a slit
is made in order to define this position accurately, the wider its diffraction pattern
and the greater the inaccuracy in reading the magnitude of deflexion. These diffi­
culties are made more apparent by laser light (in deflexion mapping generally, it
is not necessary to use monochromatic light). Figure 4(d), plate 8, shows the
shadow of a ‘Ronchi ’ grid of 5 lines/cm (figure 4 (c)), on a receptor 2*5 m beyond the
grid.
In discussing the alleviation of these difficulties, we must remember th at they
become limiting only for small angles (< 10~3 rad), i.e. under conditions for which
interferometry becomes more accurate (Weinberg 1963 a). However, it is some­
times preferable to measure the gradient of optical path anyway. The problem can
be eased by the use of various lens systems (Ronchi 1925; Levy & Weinberg 1959)
to the extent th a t the grid and test space are then at different object distances
and hence are portrayed at different magnifications. The simple proportionality
between magnification and width of diffraction pattern on the record is, therefore,
broken and an additional degree of freedom becomes available. The general theory
for converting distortions into angles of deflexion has been discussed (Weinberg
1963 a).
Irrespective of the optical system used, a fundamental method of improving the
resolving power is to use a ‘physical optics’ principle for marking the wavefront
rather than the ‘geometrical’ one of casting shadows. The use of half-wave steps
(Wolter 1956; Pandya & Weinberg 1963) results in considerable improvement. In
this method, a grid of relatively sharp lines is produced by interposing into the
beam a glass plate coated with strips of transparent material, half a wavelength
thick. The half-wave step a t each strip edge causes destructive interference between
the adjacent parts of the wave front which are out of phase and produces a dark
line.
An alternative method, to which the laser light source lends itself readily, is
the use of evenly spaced straight interference fringes as ‘reference marks on the
wavefront’. In this section of the paper the records have every appearance of
interferograms, but are in fact produced by deflexion-induced distortion of initially
straight fringes. The optical path difference giving rise to interference takes place
286 A. K. Oppenheim, P. A. Urtiew and F. J. Weinberg
not in the test space, but in an element specially introduced for this purpose.
Almost any glass slab will serve, in a laser system. In the parallel p art of the beam,
a partially silvered wedge, or a Fabry-Perot etalon, may be used to produce
‘fringes of constant thickness \ Such an expense, however, seems quite unnecessary
as any approximately plane piece of glass (e.g. a microscope slide) will produce
sharp fringes, if introduced at a sufficient inclination near one of the foci. This is
due simply to multiple reflexions at such an oblique angle th a t reflectivity becomes
appreciable.

T, position of origin of
deflexion;
M, schlieren lens or
mirror;
Gy glass slab;
Ly projection lens;
By receptor

test beam
L l9 negative lens;
xeference beam
Fy focus of the second
schlieren mirror;
GSy glass slab;
L 2y condensor lens;
By receptor conjugate to
test space

F igure 6. Scheme of use: (a) for deflexion mapping; (6) for interferometry.

Figures 4 (a) and 4 (6), plate 8, show such fringes produced using a glass slab
near the first focus. The purpose of figure 4 is to compare the invariability of such
fringe marking with the diffraction spread of the Ronchi grid mentioned above.
Figure 4 (a) shows a fringe pattern of spacing equal to th a t of the grid (5 lines/cm)
of figure 4 (c) which was recorded at the position in the parallel beam a t which the
grid was subsequently introduced. Figures 4 (6) and 4 contrast the fringe and
grid records taken in the parallel beam a t a distance of 2*5 m beyond the first
position. Whereas the markings produced by the slab remain almost invariant,
those of the Ronchi grid become completely illegible.
The use of this principle for deflexion mapping is illustrated by figures 5 (a) and
5 (6), plate 9. The test object was a gas flame stabilized on a flattened nozzle, and
the glass slide was introduced on the camera side of the second focus. As evident
 Laser light sources in schlieren-isystems
287
from these records, the fringes can be followed through regions of large deflexions
without difficulty. The receptor was conjugate with the flame a t two different
magnifications. Under these circumstances, the relationship between fringe dis­
placement, A 7 ', and the angle of deflexion, 6, can be shown to be
. A Y '( h -n
8 f h - ( i ~ h ) ( h - f ) m' (3)
where m is the magnification of the test object while, l , f and h represent distances
defined in figure 6(a). The optical path distribution can be deduced.
Deflexion mapping by means of a ‘grid5 of half-wave steps was not attem pted
in the present work, because of the success of the above method, because half-wave
steps of the thickness required for the laser wavelength would have taken an appre­
ciable time to procure, and because th a t principle had previously been tested in
a schlieren-interferometer system using one of the lines of Hg from a high pressure
arc (Weinberg 1963 b). Although the above method using interference fringes seems
more accurate and convenient in a laser system, there is one function it cannot
fulfil—it cannot be used simultaneously with interferometry of the test space. This
facility might occasionally be desirable, where both types of record are required
and the phenomenon under study is not sufficiently reproducible to allow them to
be obtained on separate occasions. This is a function th at a transparent grid of
half-wave steps will fulfil and figure 7, plate 9, shows such a record of super­
imposed deflexion mapping and interferometry of a gas flame, portraying the
distribution of both optical path and its gradient at the same instant.

Shado w g raph y
Shadows are produced, in the absence of a knife-edge of other marking aperture,
as soon as the system is defocused. The sensitivity depends on the amount of
defocusing. This is to be regarded as a facility of the schlieren system which might
occasionally be useful—much simpler equipment is, of course, sufficient for
shadowgraphy.
The particular consequence of the properties of laser light sources is again the
breakdown of the geometrical theory at large sensitivity. The theory giving the
relevant criteria (Weinberg 1956, 1963®) has anticipated the feature of lasers of
decreasing source size below a useful limit (Hannes 1956).
Figure 8, plate 9, illustrates the type of record obtained with a laser source.
The superimposition of ‘ray s’ deflected through various paths produces fringes,
and the geometrical theory predicts correctly only the outer envelope of the illumi­
nation profile. Because of the difficulty of interpretation, the most useful aspect of
such patterns may be the use of their disappearance as a sensitive criterion for
focusing the test space on the receptor, prior to using schlieren or interferometric
methods.
I nterferom etry
The interferometer based on two diffraction gratings discussed above is not
suited for use with laser sources. I t is unsuitable first because all but two orders
are discarded at each grating so th a t much light is wasted and, while this is not
288 A. K. Oppenheim, P. A. IJrtiew and F. J. Weinberg
important in studies of steady phenomena, it is usually vital in investigations in
which a laser flash is required. Secondly, it is unsuitable because of the small
extent of light at the focus, which implies diffraction at only one or two of the
rulings of the coarse gratings which are required for this purpose. Moreover, a ruby
laser damages the grating a t each flash.
Fortunately, the properties of laser light make interferometry so easy th a t this
is no great loss. Thus the role of the first grating—th a t of a beam splitter which
fills half the mirror aperture with the reference beam and the other half with the
test beam becomes unnecessary. For a coherent, plane and monochromatic wave-
front it should not be necessary to designate a ‘reference’ and ‘te s t’ beam,
because it does not m atter which part is superimposed upon which, so th a t we can
fold the wavefront a t whatever is the most convenient point, after traversal of
the object under study.
In order to superimpose one part of the beam upon the other, use was again
made of reflexion a t the two parallel surfaces of a glass slab. In contrast to the
purpose of the glass plate of figure 6 (a), however, a parallel beam and only one
reflexion a t each surface is now required. Using the parallel beam between the
mirrors would require an exceedingly large and expensive slab, and the system
illustrated in figure 6 ( b)was therefore devised. In this the beam
again after contraction by a concave lens whose focus is coincident with th a t of
the second mirror. This arrangement satisfies the criteria set out in the intro­
duction ; it is identical to a parallel beam schlieren system almost up to the point
of focus of the second mirror, except th a t only part of the beam can be used for
the test object. The only additional components which replace the schlieren aper­
ture are a concave lens (a spectacle lens was used in the present work) and a
parallel-faced glass slab which need be only marginally larger than the lens.
The mechanism of superimposition is shown in figure 6 (6). As can be deduced
from there, the relation between beam diameter, thickness of the plate, a, angle
of incidence, a, and extent of overlap, n, in terms of fraction of the beam diameter is
n — WjD — 1 —2afd sin a (4)
The shorter dimension of the greatest working space possible is half the mirror
diameter. When this is to be achieved n — \ and a/d sin a = \. The special case
when this is arranged for a,= 45° tends, in the absence
make the illumination in the two halves unequal, and diminishes fringe legibility.
The clarity of fringes is improved a t more perpendicular incidence. Alternatively,
one surface may be partially silvered so as to make the two illuminations equal
at any desired incidence. However, for the large mirrors used here, test objects
typical of combustion applications (figure 10, plate 10) could be examined at
angles of incidence giving perfect legibility without any silvering of the glass slab,
which was in fact a window from an old detonation tube.
In the limit of increasing overlap, the beams superimpose exactly with point-
to-point correspondence between the two beams, and the system reverts to de­
flexion mapping. This links equation (4) with the mechanism used in the preceding
section, in which, however, the transm itted beams were used beyond the slab and
r light sources in schlieren-systems 289
the divergence of the beam near a focal point was exploited to magnify the fine,
closely spaced fringes obtained a t very oblique incidence.
If the quality of all the optical components were perfect and the focal points of
the concave lens and the second schlieren mirror coincided exactly, the ideal system
would be in infinite fringe adjustm ent automatically. This is never fully attainable
using the geometry of figure 1 (6), principally because of off-axis aberrations. These
can be avoided by reverting to the plan form of figure 1 (a), at the cost of sacrificing
some of the field of view to the plane mirrors, but this was not considered worth
doing in the present instance because the deviation from the infinite fringe con­
dition was not very large and could be accurately recorded. This is illustrated by
the photograph of figure 9, plate 10, which is devoid of any perturbation in the
test space. The deviation across the 46 cm field of view is 8 wavelengths at its
greatest. When a large test object is examined using such mirror systems, it may
be preferable to work with parallel fringes. Figures 10(a) and 10(6) are interfero-
grams of gas flames taken near the infinite fringe condition and at a finite fringe
spacing respectively (the inclination of the two wavefronts in the latter case was
approximately 2*5 wavelengths/cm).
I t must be emphasized th a t the above optical system can be used only with
a laser source, since one beam traverses the glass slab twice while the other is
reflected on its surface, the path difference between the two interfering waves
being very large indeed. Although the fronts are parallel, the order of fringes
recorded in figure 10 is as large as 105.

The authors thank Dr K. Scheller of A.R.L. for the loan of grating replicas
previously used by one of them (F. J.W .), and Mr G. Steel for his assistance in
experimental work associated with figure 2. This work was supported by the United
States Air Force through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research of the Air
Research and Development Command under Grant AFOSR 129-65.

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