Construction and Performance of a High-Speed Cinemicrograph

Abstract

This report describes the construction and performance of a high-speed cinemicrograph capable of producing a series of 200 pictures at 100 000 frames per second. The basic principle of this ``image-dissecting'' camera consists of reproducing each scene in half-tone (i.e., breaking the picture up into an array of widely-spaced dots) and interspersing succeeding frames on the same composite plate by moving the plate one dot diameter between successive frames. After processing, the frames are ``played back'' in sequence. The technique of image dissection is further improved by the use of a plate of small, spherical lenslets to produce the dot structure. This advance considerably increases the light-gathering power and ultimate top speed of the camera, making it possible to do high-speed cinemicrography using a commercial Vickers projection microscope for magnifications up to 2000× with various illumination techniques. The ciné record so produced is of quite high quality; each frame conveys about the same information as a standard 16-mm ciné frame. Some examples of ``movie'' scenes are shown for visual comparison.