Commissioning of a Metal Vapor Laser for the Illumination of High Speed Motion Pictures

An effort to produce high-speed (20000 frames/s) motion pictures for the purpose of projectile analysis using a pulse-mode copper vapor laser as the sole illumination source was conducted. A single-shaft rotating prism camera was successfully synchronized with a 20-W continuous average power, copper vapor laser. Initial work performed on this task was focused on laser commissioning, which consisted of laser cavity purging, laser tuning, and optical component selection. Additional work reported includes laser bench setup, fiber-optic delivery of laser light, laser/camera synchronization, and film selection