A new power stroboscope for high-speed flash photography

A power stroboscope has been developed for high-speed flash photography at picture repetition rates from 100¿4000 pictures/sec, the duration of each flash being 5 microsec. The control circuit uses a hydrogen thyratron to trigger the tube discharge, and the energy is supplied to the lamp at 12 kV. The storage capacitor of 0.1 ¿F delivers 4 joules to the lamp. During the development it was found that the light emission from a low-pressure xenon-filled tube persisted for a considerable time after current had ceased to flow. This afterglow in xenon discharges is greatly reduced by an increase in gas pressure and other changes in the physical design of the lamp. The stroboscope can be used for direct photography with a drum camera, or it can be synchronized with the optical compensation element of an image-compensated camera. Some examples of the application of the system to cavitation research are given.