Construction And Evaluation Of A Simple And Inexpensive Rotating Prism Camera For Recording The Movement Of Shocks And Particle Tracers Within A Shock Tube

A simple, inexpensive rotating prism camera constructed from readily available materials using standard machining techniques has been constructed. The camera can record up to 100 pictures on 35 mm format at a rate of 50,000 per second. A pulsed ruby laser is used as a light source giving exposure times of approximately 50 nanoseconds. The performance of this camera in recording the movement of shock waves and particle tracers in a shock tube is described.