SCIENCE CHINA

Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy

• Research Paper • January 2010 Vol. 53 No.1: 81−94
doi: 10.1007/s11433-010-0111-4

An experimental study of aero-optical aberration and dithering

of supersonic mixing layer via BOS
ZHAO YuXin*, YI ShiHe, TIAN LiFeng, HE Lin & CHENG ZhongYu
College of Aerospace and Material Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China

Received May 7, 2009; accepted May 26, 2009

The optical performance of supersonic mixing layer is heavily deteriorated by the aero-optical aberration and dithering of co-
herent structures, but current measuring methods limit the spatiotemporal resolution in relevant studies. A high resolution
whole-field aero-optical aberration and dithering measuring method based on the Background Orient Schlieren (BOS) technique
was studied. The systematic structure, sensitivity and resolution of BOS are analyzed in this paper. The aero-optical aberration
and dithering of streamwise structures in supersonic mixing layers were quantificationally studied with BOS. The aberration
field of spanwise structures revealed the ribbon-like aberration structures, which heavily restrict the optical performance of a
mixing layer. The quantifications of aero-optical aberration and dithering are very important in studying aero-optical perform-
ance of supersonic mixing layer.

aero-optics, supersonic mixing layer, BOS

The study of aero-optical performance of supersonic flows
can be applied widely to infrared guidance, high-power la-
ser, lidar, laser communication, airborne telescopes, and
airborne aerospace observation systems [1]. Aero-optical
phenomena of the supersonic mixing layer can be exten-
sively found in these applications. The supersonic mixing
layer of cooling jet and mainstream reveals very complex
aero-optical phenomena, which will reduce the accuracy of
the optical guidance on high speed aircraft [2]. In the
aero-window of high power aerodynamic laser or chemical
laser [3], there are two mixing layers that not only seal the
optical resonators from atmosphere but also influence the
optic performance of output laser. Therefore, the study of
the aero-optical performance of supersonic mixing layer is
also important for high power laser studies.
Many aero-optics measuring methods have been devel-
oped in the past. For example, the schlieren and shadow-
graphy are based on the variation of refractive index field,
the interferometric techniques on the variation of optical
*Corresponding author (email: freeflyzyx@yahoo.com.cn)
path length (OPL), and the wavefront sensor on the aberra-
tion of wavefront. The schlieren and shadowgraphy are, in
essence, flow visualization methods that can only qualita-
tively measure the aero-optical effects. The interferometric
techniques as important aero-optical measuring methods can
measure the quantitative aero-optics parameters. However,
the high spatial resolution interferometric systems are costly
and sensitive to outside disturbance, and their postprocess
algorithm is rather complex. The wavefront sensor is a main
apparatus in studying the aberration of wavefront, already
used extensively in studies of large temperature gradient
flowfield and high Mach number (Ma) flowfield, but the
spatial resolution is limited by the size of micro-lens plate.
In order to overcome the shortages of these techniques, a
vectorized and robust high resolution aero-optics measuring
method has been proposed here. This method is used to
study the aero-optical performances of supersonic mixing
layer, which include the aero-optical aberration field of
streamwise laminar section and vortices, the instantaneous
variation of the flowfield and aero-optical dithering led by
vortices motion, and the aero-optical aberration and dither-

© Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 phys.scichina.com www.springerlink.com
82 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron
ing led by spanwise periodic ribbon.
1 BOS system
With the development of modern flow measuring tech-
niques, the synthetic schlieren techniques based on particle
image velocimetry (PIV) are proposed to measure the gra-
dient and fluctuation of density field [4, 5]. According to the
fundamentals of synthetic schlieren, Meier (1999) proposed
Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS) techniques. Cur-
rently, the BOS has been widely applied to quantitatively
measuring the wind tunnel flowfield and real life full-scale
flows [6–9]. Although using BOS method reveals character-
istics of vectorization and high resolution in measuring
flowfield, there are practical problems in applying BOS to
measuring aero-optical aberration and dithering.
The BOS method on the basis of the relationship between
the refractive index of gas and density gradient field yields
more information than schlieren. The random dotted back-
ground is used as imaging object of camera. If the flowfield
between camera and background is disturbed, the image of
dot on camera will offset with flowfield, which is directly
related to the distribution of refractive index field. Accord-
ing to the relative location between the camera and the
background, the refractive index field can be calculated
from the displacement of each dot, with which the density
gradient field and aero-optic effects of the flow can be
quantitatively analyzed. Shown in Figure 1 is the flow chart
of BOS.
The calculation of displacement of each dot requires two
correlative images that reflect the variation of flowfield.
These two images may be either the background images
influenced by undisturbed and disturbed flowfield, or the
background images influenced by disturbed flowfield at
different time. The former corresponds with the difference
between the disturbed and undisturbed flowfields, i.e. the
Figure 1 The flow chart of BOS.
January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1
aberration field while the latter corresponds with the differ-
ence between the disturbed flowfields at different time, i.e.
the dithering field. The correlative images record the varia-
tion of background dots location, which is similar to the
images in PIV. Therefore, the aberration and dithering field
can be calculated with current PIV algorithm. According to
the actual configuration and implementation of BOS, the
refractive index field can be integrated from the displace-
ment vector field, and the density gradient field and its op-
tical performance can be determined from the optical char-
acteristic of flow media.
1.1 System structure
There are generally two configurations of BOS apparatus:
PIV type and schlieren type. The PIV type BOS apparatus is
composed of camera, background and light source. The
flowfield to be measured is placed between camera and
background, as shown in Figure 2. The schlieren type BOS
apparatus, a little more complex, requires the large aperture
convex lens or spherical mirror and a diaphragm at focus, in
addition to the three components of PIV type BOS appara-
tus as shown in Figure 3. The camera and light source of
BOS can be determined by the flow condition and measur-
ing parameters. As for the low speed flows, the high frame
rate CCD with continuous light source can be used to study
the temporal evolution of the flow structures. For measuring
supersonic flows, the interline transfer CCD and pulse laser
should be selected to actualize the instantaneous aero-opti-
cal performance and to freeze the high speed fluctuation in
the exposure interval. By comparison, the PIV type BOS is
simpler and appropriate for full scale measurement, but the
spatial resolution is comparatively low; the schlieren type
BOS yields higher spatial resolution, but since it is difficult
to measure full scale flowfield, it is mainly used in measur-
ing wind tunnel flowfield. As for the aero-optical measure-
ment, the schlieren type BOS is more appropriate to study
 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1 83

1.2 Sensitivity and resolution

The sensitivity and resolution of BOS system are related to
the geometric and optical parameters of system, which can
be analyzed from the light path on the y-z plane. According
to the theory of coaxially spherical optical system, both PIV
Figure 2 Schema of PIV type BOS apparatus.
type and schlieren type BOS can be simplified as the light
path in Figure 5, where, Zi is the distance between image
plane and image-side principal plane of lens, ZB is the dis-
tance between background and object-side principal plane,
ZD is the distance between background and disturbance cen-
ter, Δy, ε and Δy′ stand for the displacement of dot image,
deflection angle and virtual displacement of dot, respec-
tively. For the sake of simplicity, the details of principal
Figure 3 Schema of schlieren type BOS apparatus. plane of imaging lens in schlieren type BOS are omitted.
According to the fundamental equation of ray transmit-
ting variant refractive index, the relation between medium
the far-field optical aberration, and the measuring precision density and refractive index is
of PIV type BOS can also be enhanced by adjusting the
diaphragm of camera lens. n −1
= G (λ ), (1)
The two methods demand similar background: random ρ
dots picture or natural background. The synthetic random
dots picture is often used as background for the wind tunnel ⎡ ⎛ 6.7132 × 10−8 ⎞2 ⎤
or indoor experiments. The spatially periodic structures G ( λ ) = 2.2244 × 10−4 ⎢1 + ⎜ ⎟ ⎥, (2)
⎢⎣ ⎝ λ ⎠ ⎥⎦
should be avoided in a synthetic picture, or else the dis-
placement cannot be properly calculated by PIV algorithm.
where λ is the wavelength of the light.
The size of an individual dot can be determined from the
According to the theory of light deflection in continuous
amplification of camera lens, and one pixel should at least
refractive index field, the light is always defected toward
correspond to one dot. The dot number density can be ad-
higher refractive index media, and only the refractive index
justed according to the spatial resolution. Because the dot
part, perpendicular to the ray, contributes to the deflection,
number in interrogation area ranges from 10 to 20 in PIV
and the corresponding deflection angle can be expressed as
interrogation area, the synthetic background picture should
meet this requirement. If the size of a dot is large enough Z D +ΔZ D
1 ∂n
and the dot number density is low enough, the displacement ε=
ZD
∫
−ΔZ
n ∂y
dz. (3)
of each dot can be calculated from Particle Tracking Ve- D

locimetry (PTV) algorithm. The typical background images According to the geometric relation in Figure 5 and im-
are shown in Figure 4, in which the dot number density of aging equations of lens group,
(a) and (b) equals 20%, but the spatial resolution of (b) is
two times of (a). The spatial resolution of (c), (d) equals (b), ε Z D Zi ε ZD f
Δy = = , (4)
but the dot number density is 40% and 60% respectively. ZB ZB − f
Because the common size of interrogation area in PIV is
32×32, the optimal dot number density ranges from 10% to where f is the focal length of lens at object-side. It can be
20%. Moreover, the white dot is preferred to the dark dot, seen that the displacement of dot image is in proportion to
which is helpful for PIV algorithm to locate the coordinate Z D and Z i , and in reverse proportion to Z B . Therefore,
of correlation peak. for the improved sensitivity of BOS, image distance and the

Figure 4 Typical background images of BOS.

84 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1

1.3 The relation between BOS and flowfield structures

and aero-optical performance
The BOS method determines the flow structures by the rela-
tionship between the refractive index and the density. Ac-
cording to eqs. (3) and (4), the displacement of background
dots can be calculated from
Δr = Δx i + Δy j ,
Z D +ΔZ D
Z D Zi 1 ∂n
Figure 5 Schema of light path in BOS system. Δx =
ZB ZD
∫
−Δ
ZD
n ∂x
dz , (6)

distance between background and flowfield should be in-
creased, whereas the object distance should be decreased.
In practical applications, the sensitivity is not the exclusive
factor that influences the measuring precision. With the im-
provement of sensitivity, the dot image will be heavily blurred
by the large gradient region of flowfield, which will reduce
the precision of PIV algorithm and the resolution of system.
This, in essence, is the aero-optical aberration caused by the
flowfield, which can be explained in Figure 6, where f ′ is
the focal length of lens at image-side, d is the equivalent
aperture diameter, and φ is the image facular diameter of P.
The diameter of blurring spot can be calculated from
Z D f ′d d ( Δy )
Pblur = . (5)
Z B ( Z B − Z D ) dy
It can be inferred from this equation that the improve-
ment of sensitivity will inevitably blur the background dots.
If the sensitivity meets the requirement of measurement, the
relative location of BOS system and flowfield to be meas-
ured should be fixed, and the negative influence of blurring
can be lessened by reducing the aperture. Therefore, it is
difficult to reconcile the inconsistency between sensitivity
and resolution of BOS. Due to the sub-pixel precision of
current PIV algorithm, the sensitivity is not the bottleneck
in BOS, but improving resolution should be emphasized for
flowfield and aero-optical measurement. In fact, the resolu-
tion of imaging system is also influenced by the flowfield
structures. The size of blurring spot is in proportion to the
local density gradient of the flowfield, which is an irrecon-
cilable shortage of transmission-based flow imaging tech-
niques.
Z D +ΔZ D
Z D Zi 1 ∂n
Δy =
ZB ZD
∫
−Δ ZD
n ∂y
dz.
Eq. (6) shows that the displacement of background dots
corresponds with the gradient of refractive index, hence the
density gradient. This is similar to the traditional schlieren
methods, which, however, can only measure the partial de-
rivative of density perpendicular to knife edge. Therefore,
the BOS method can provide more information than tradi-
tional schlieren methods. Moreover, as discussed before, the
displacement of background dots depends on the geometric
parameters of BOS and optical parameters of lens. By ad-
justing these parameters, the spatial resolution and size of
observation window can be adjusted, impossible by tradi-
tional schlieren methods. The quantificational characteristic
of BOS provides reliable original data for measuring the
flow structures and aero-optical performance, from which
the density and wavefront distribution can be derived.
In order to validate the performance of BOS apparatus,
the flowfield above a candle flame is measured with pulse
laser and interline transfer CCD, as shown in Figure 7. In
this experiment, the background dot is 0.1 mm×0.1 mm, the
distance between the background and the candle is 500 mm,
the distance between CCD and candle is 500 mm, and the
duration of background illumination laser is 6 ns. It can be
seen from this figure that the buoyancy-driven convective
flow structures of candle flame have been clearly captured
by our BOS system, the vector field corresponds with the
size and direction of background displacement, and the
contour shows the errors of PIV algorithm utilized here to
be less than 0.1 pixel.
According to the light transmission characteristic in
two-dimensional gradient field, the control equation of re-
fractive index field is

∂2n ∂2n ⎛ ∂Δx ( x, y ) ∂Δy ( x, y ) ⎞

+ 2 = C⎜ + ⎟, (7)
∂x 2
∂y ⎝ ∂x ∂y ⎠
where C is constant related to the actual parameters of BOS
setup. Eq. (7) is Poisson equation with source term, which
can be solved with finite difference or finite element
method. The relationship between refractive index field
n(x,y) and density field ρ (x,y,z) can be calculated from eqs.
Figure 6 The schema of image blur of BOS. (1) and (2).
 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1 85

ground is random dots matrix printed on size 400 mm×500

mm paper, each dot being 0.07 mm×0.07 mm, and the illu-
mination is Nd:YAG laser with duration at 6 ns and 350 mJ
per pulse. The light intensity of laser can be adjusted ac-
cording to camera parameters. In the BOS study of super-
sonic mixing layer, the wind tunnel is placed between
background and CCD camera, and the distance of back-
ground and CCD to the symmetry plane of wind tunnel is
26.7 mm and 50 mm, respectively.

2 Experimental condition of supersonic mixing

layer

The schema of supersonic mixing layer flowfield is shown

in Figure 8. The supersonic air streams flow from left to
right, the Ma of the upper stream is smaller than that of the
lower stream, and these two streams meet at the tip of the
splitter plate. Before the upper stream flows into the nozzle,
the total pressure is adjusted to ensure the equal static pres-
sure of two streams at nozzle outlet. Due to the existence of
velocity gradient between the two streams, a supersonic
Figure 7 The aero-optical effects of convective flowfield above candle
flame. mixing layer is generated at the x-z plane. In this paper, the
plane that parallels the x-y plane is called streamwise plane
and the plane that parallels the x-z plane is called spanwise
The OPL LS is defined by the refractive index integral plane. The flowfield on streamwise plane involves complex
flow instability problem in transition to turbulence. Both the
along path S ( a → b ) :
vortical structures on the spanwise plane and streamwise
b structure influence the aero-optical performance of super-
LS = ∫ n ( s ) ds. (8) sonic mixing layer.
a The supersonic mixing layer flowfield is generated by a
low-noise and laminarized wind tunnel. Because the super-
The optical path difference (OPD) is the difference in the
sonic mixing layer wind tunnel is complex aerodynamic
optical path lengths between two rays:
experiment apparatus, the errors introduced by design,
b manufacture and installation may cause the flowfield to
ΔLS = LS 1 − LS 2 = ∫ ⎡⎣ n ( s1 ) − n ( s2 ) ⎤⎦ ds. (9) deviate from the design parameters. In order to ensure the
a reliability of wind tunnel parameters, the mixing layer flow-
field is calibrated with pressure measuring method, as listed
With wavelength as reference, the wavefront aberration is
in Table 1.
related to the OPD,
2π
Δφ = ⋅ ΔLS . (10)
λ
Because the undisturbed refractive index field is known,
and the disturbed refractive index field can be measured
with BOS, the wavefront aberration can be calculated from
eq. (10). Figure 8 Schema of supersonic mixing layer flowfield.

1.4 The parameters of BOS apparatus

Table 1 Calibration parameters of supersonic mixing layer

According to the fundamental theory of BOS, a PIV type Mc Ma Pressure (Pa) Density (kg/m3) Velocity (m/s)
BOS apparatus has been set up to study the aero-optical 0.12 2.884 1077.1 0.033 619.3
performance of supersonic mixing layer. With this appara- 3.649 1077.1 0.046 668.1
tus, both single frame and the time-correlation flow images 0.24 2.196 1472.2 0.034 553.5
can be captured with frame straddling technique. The back- 3.428 1472.2 0.057 661.6
86 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron
3 Aero-optical aberration and dithering of
streamwise structures
3.1 Mixing layer of Mc=0.12
Shown in Figure 9 is the aberration field of the first section
in Mc=0.12 mixing layer, the distance between the left side
of the image and nozzle outlet is 29 mm, the corresponding
flowfield is 29.7 mm in height and 100 mm in length, and
the spatial resolution is 0.055 mm/pixel. Figures 9(a) and
9(b) are the background images before and after the flow-
field is established. Figure 9(c) is aero-optical aberration
field calculated from Figures 9(a) and 9(b) with PIV algo-
rithm. The interrogation area is 32 pixels×16 pixels. Figures
9(d) and 9(e) are the aero-optical aberration contour along
the x and y direction. Figure 9(f) presents the total aero-
optical aberration contour.
Figure 9 shows that, although the difference of back-
ground images cannot be identified by the naked eye, the
quantificational vector field and contour of aberration are
clearly identified with PIV algorithm. The aberration vector
field reflects the relative displacement and direction of
background dots influenced by mixing layer flowfield,
which is a critical characteristic that differentiate the BOS
from traditional schlieren method. The traditional schlieren
images can only reflect the variation of density gradient
perpendicular to knife edge. As a result, the measured
information is one dimension. Moreover, the size of light
source and the depth of cutting off are difficult to quantify,
so the flowfield is only qualitatively reflected. In contrast,
the BOS methods are able to simultaneously measure
two-direction aero-optical aberration of the mixing layer.
The aero-optical aberration caused by double layer struc-
Figure 9 Aero-optical aberration field of the first section in Mc=0.12 mixing layer. (a) Background image without flowfield; (b) background image with
flowfield disturbance; (c) vector field of aero-optical aberration; (d) aero-optical aberration contour along x-direction; (e) aero-optical aberration contour
along y-direction; (f) total aero-optical aberration contour.
January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1
tures of laminar section and K-H vortexes of transient sec-
tion is clearly revealed by Figure 9(d). It can be seen from
Figures 9(d)–9(f) that, the aberration of y-direction is far
larger than x-direction in laminar section, but with the de-
velopment of vortices, the y-direction aberration decreases
while x-direction aberration increases, which corresponds
with the flow structures of the mixing layer.
Shown in Figure 10 are the BOS measuring results of the
aberration field in Figure 9 after 5 microseconds (μs). The
parameters and algorithm of BOS are the same as in Figure
9. It can be seen from Figure 10 that the motion of flowfield
is dominated by x-translation in 5 μs interval. The variation
of aberration field can be calculated from two images in 5
μs interval with PIV algorithm, and this variation reflects
the aero-optical dithering led by vortices, as shown in Fig-
ure 11.
Shown in Figure 12 is the aberration field of the second
section in Mc=0.12 mixing layer. The distance between the
left side of the image and nozzle outlet is 129 mm, the cor-
responding flowfield is 30.9 mm in height and 100 mm in
length, and the spatial resolution is 0.055 mm/pixel. The
background image and interrogation window are similar to
Figure 9. Figures 12(a), (b), (c) and (d) correspond with
aberration vector field, X and y-direction aberration contour,
and total aberration contour, respectively.
Figure 12 shows that this section reveals apparent peri-
odic structures. The vector field of aero-optical aberration
shows that there still exist unbroken K-H vortexes. The
contour of x-direction aero-optical aberration clearly reveals
the aero-optical effects of vortices arranging along the
streamwise, but the average aberration is smaller than the
first section. The large gradient area of y-direction
aero-optical aberration contour turns wide, which means
 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1 87

Figure 10 BOS measuring results of the aberration field in Figure 9 after 5 μs. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberration con-
tour along x-direction; (c) aero-optical aberration contour along y-direction; (d) total aero-optical aberration contour.

Figure 11 Dithering field of the first section in mixing layer in 5 μs interval. (a) Vector field of aero-optical dithering; (b) aero-optical dithering contour
along x-direction; (c) aero-optical dithering contour along y-direction; (d) total aero-optical dithering contour.

Figure 12 Aero-optical aberration field of the second section in Mc=0.12 mixing layer. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberra-
tion contour along x-direction; (c) aero-optical aberration contour along y-direction; (d) total aero-optical aberration contour.

that the mixing layer turns thick, and the growth rate is not ration still dominates the total aberration, but the x-direction
linear due to the existence of vortices. A comparison of the aberration also influences the whole aberration contour.
x- and y-direction contour reveals that the y-direction aber- Shown in Figure 13 are the BOS measuring results of the
88 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1

aberration field in Figure 12 after 5 μs, with the parameters
and algorithm of BOS the same as those in Figure 12. It can
be seen from Figure 13 that the motion of flowfield is still
dominated by x-translation. The dithering field can be cal-
culated from the two images in 5 μs interval with PIV algo-
rithm, as shown in Figure 14. It can be seen from Figure 14
that the periodic structures reflect the aero-optical dithering
effects brought about by the translation of mixing interface.
3.2 Mixing layer of Mc=0.24
Shown in Figure 15 is the aberration field of the first section
in Mc=0.24 mixing layer. The distance between the left side
of the image and nozzle outlet is 3 mm, the corresponding
flowfield is 20 mm in height and 76 mm in length, and the
spatial resolution is 0.05 mm/pixel. Figures 15(a)–15(d)
correspond with aberration vector field, x and y-direction
aberration contour, and total aberration contour, respec-
tively. The interrogation area is the same as that in Figure 9.
It can be seen that the BOS results clearly reflect the aero-
optical aberration field of laminar section. The vector field
of aero-optical aberration shows that there are no apparent
K-H vortices in this section, with only a little density fluc-
tuation at the end. Obscure periodic structures appear in the
x-direction aberration contour, which is the density fluctua-
tion as a result of the instability of mixing interface. The
large gradient region in y-direction aero-optical aberration
contour corresponds with the mixing interface. Because the
mixing layer is not absolutely two-dimensional, the integral
effects of BOS lead to a thick mixing interface. The mixing
layer does not turn thick in this section, which means that
the influence of velocity shear on density gradient is rather
weak. By comparing x- and y-direction contour, we have
found that the y-direction aberration still dominates the total
aberration, and the x-direction aberration does not appar-
ently influence the whole aberration contour.
Shown in Figure 16 are the BOS measuring results of the
aberration field in Figure 15 after 5 μs, with the parameters

Figure 13 BOS measuring results of the aberration field in Figure 12 after 5 μs. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberration con-
tour along x-direction; (c) aero-optical aberration contour along y-direction; (d) total aero-optical aberration contour.

Figure 14 Dithering field of the second section in mixing layer in 5 μs interval. (a) Vector field of aero-optical dithering; (b) aero-optical dithering contour
along x-direction; (c) aero-optical dithering contour along y-direction; (d) total aero-optical dithering contour.
 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1 89

Figure 15 Aero-optical aberration field of the first section in Mc=0.24 mixing layer. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberration
contour along x-direction; (c) aero-optical aberration contour along y-direction; (d) total aero-optical aberration contour.

Figure 16 BOS measuring results of the aberration field in Figure 15 after 5 μs. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberration con-
tour along x-direction; (c) aero-optical aberration contour along y-direction; (d) total aero-optical aberration contour.

and algorithm of BOS the same as those in Figure 15. It can
be seen from Figure 15 that the motion of flowfield is still
dominated by x-translation, while the other characteristics
are unidentified by the naked eye. However, the
cross-correlation analysis of the two images in 5 μs interval
reveals apparent aero-optical effects, as shown in Figure 17.
The x-direction dithering field shows that although there are
no vortices in laminar section, the periodic structures still
exist in aero-optical dithering field. The spatial frequency of
these structures is the same as the shredding frequency of
K-H vortices. Therefore, the periodic density fluctuation
maybe an important factor that leads to the instability of
mixing layer. Paired structures in the y-direction dithering
field are found, because of the aero-optical effects of the
translation of K-H vortices. The total dithering contour ap-
parently reveals the largest dithering area, which corre-
sponds with the area that K-H vortices roll up.
Shown in Figure 18 is the aberration field of the second
section in Mc=0.24 mixing layer. The distance between the
left side of the image and nozzle outlet is 103 mm, the cor-
responding flowfield is 20 mm in height and 88 mm in
length, and the spatial resolution is 0.05 mm/pixel. The
background image and interrogation window are similar to
those in Figure 15. Figures 18(a)–18(d) correspond with
aberration vector field, x and y-direction aberration contour,
and total aberration contour, respectively.
It can be seen from Figure 18 that this section apparent
contains periodic structures. The vector field of aero-optical
aberration shows that the K-H vortexes begin to roll up. The
contour of x-direction aero-optical aberration clearly reveals
the aero-optical effects of vortices arranging along the
streamwise, and the front aberration is larger than the end,
which means the vortices begin to break up. The y-direction
aero-optical aberration is similar to that of Mc=0.12 mixing
layer. The large gradient area turns wide, which means that
the mixing layer turns thick, and the growth rate is not lin-
ear due to the existence of vortices. A comparison of the x-
and y-direction contour displays that the magnitude of
y-direction aberration is equivalent to the x-direction aberra-
tion. As a result, the total aberration contour reveals appar-
ent vortical structures.
Shown in Figure 19 are the BOS measuring results of the
90 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1

Figure 17 Dithering field of the first section in mixing layer in 5 μs interval. (a) Vector field of aero-optical dithering; (b) aero-optical dithering contour
along x-direction; (c) aero-optical dithering contour along y-direction; (d) total aero-optical dithering contour.

Figure 18 Aero-optical aberration field of the second section in Mc=0.24 mixing layer. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberra-
tion contour along x-direction; (c) aero-optical aberration contour along y-direction; (d) total aero-optical aberration contour.

Figure 19 BOS measuring results of the aberration field in Figure 18 after 5 μs. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberration con-
tour along x-direction; (c) aero-optical aberration contour along y-direction; (d) total aero-optical aberration contour.

aberration field in Figure 18 after 5 μs. The parameters and
algorithm of BOS are the same as those in Figure 18. It can
be seen from Figure 19 that the motion of flowfield is still
dominated by x-translation. The dithering field can be cal-
culated from two images in 5 μs interval with PIV algo-
rithm, as shown in Figure 20. It can be seen from Figure 20
that the periodic structures reflect the aero-optical dithering
effects led by the translation of mixing interface. As com-
pared with the first section, the periodic structures of
y-direction dithering contour are angled larger than 90° with
respect to the flow direction.
 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron
Figure 20 Dithering field of the second section in mixing layer in 5 μs interval. (a) Vector field of aero-optical dithering; (b) aero-optical dithering contour
along x-direction; (c) aero-optical dithering contour along y-direction; (d) total aero-optical dithering contour.
4 Aero-optical aberration and dithering of
spanwise structures
4.1 Mixing layer of Mc=0.12
Shown in Figure 21 is the spanwise aberration field of the
first section in Mc=0.12 mixing layer. The distance between
the left side of the image and nozzle outlet is 70 mm, the
corresponding flowfield is 20 mm in height and 40 mm in
length, and the spatial resolution is 0.03 mm/pixel. Figure
21(a) is the vector field of aero-optical aberration calculated
with PIV algorithm, Figure 21(b) is the x-direction aberration
contour, Figures 21(c) and (d) present the vector field of aero-
optical aberration and x-direction aberration contour after 5
μs, respectively, Figures 21(e) and (f) are about the vector
field of aero-optical dithering and x-direction dithering con-
tour in 5 μs. The interrogation area is 32 pixels×16 pixels.
It can be seen from Figures 21(a) and (b) that the span-
wise aberration field corresponds with the spanwise vortical
structures. The ribbon structures in BOS images reflect the
aero-optical aberration of spanwise roller. The schlieren
with aperture at 200 mm has been used to capture these
structures, but no ribbon structures can be identified in ex-
perimental images, which means that the BOS method
yields better sensitivity than traditional schlieren method.
Figures 21(c) and (d) show that the motion of flowfield is
dominated by x-translation in 5 μs interval. The vector field
of aero-optical dithering apparently reflects the aero-optical
dithering effects brought by the motion of vortical structures
in 5 μs interval.
Shown in Figure 22 is the spanwise aberration field of
the second section in Mc=0.12 mixing layer. The distance
between the left side of the image and nozzle outlet is 130
mm, the corresponding flowfield is 20 mm in height and 42
mm in length, and the spatial resolution is 0.03 mm/pixel.
Shown in Figure 23 is the spanwise aberration field of the
third section in Mc=0.12 mixing layer, with the distance
between the left side of the image and nozzle outlet being
190 mm, the corresponding flowfield, 20 mm in height and
January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1 91
43 mm in length, and the spatial resolution, 0.03 mm/pixel.
It can be seen from Figures 22 and 23 that the periodic
ribbon structures always exist in the BOS images, but the
downstream ribbons are more fragmentized than upstream.
This means that with the development of mixing layer, the
spanwise vortices begin to break up. By contrast, the
aero-optical aberration of spanwise is smaller than that of
streamwise. This phenomenon originates from the integral
OPL effects of BOS, because OPL of spanwise BOS is far
smaller than that of streamwise BOS.
4.2 Mixing layer of Mc=0.24
Figure 24 is about the spanwise aberration field of the first
section in Mc=0.24 mixing layer. The distance between the
left side of the image and nozzle outlet is 2 mm, the corre-
sponding flowfield is 55 mm in height and 117 mm in
length, and the spatial resolution is 0.06 mm/pixel. Figure
24(a) is the vector field of aero-optical aberration calculated
with PIV algorithm, Figure 24(b) is the x-direction aberra-
tion contour, Figures 24(c) and (d) show the vector field of
aero- optical aberration and x-direction aberration contour
after 5 μs, respectively, Figures 24(e) and (f) show the vec-
tor field of aero-optical dithering and x-direction dithering
contour in 5 μs, and the interrogation area is 32 pixels×16
pixels.
From Figures 24(a) and (b) the aero-optical aberration of
laminar section looks small, and apparent ribbon structures
can be seen in vortical region. Figures 24(c) and (d) show
that the motion of flowfield is still dominated by
x-translation in 5 μs interval, but the aberration of local re-
gion increases due to the rolling up of vortices. The vector
field of aero-optical dithering apparently reflects the
aero-optical dithering effects brought by the motion of vor-
tical structures in 5 μs interval.
Figure 25 shows the spanwise aberration field of the
second section in Mc=0.24 mixing layer. The distance be-
tween the left side of the image and nozzle outlet is 120
92 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1

Figure 21 BOS results of the first section in Mc=0.12 mixing layer. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberration contour along
x-direction; (c) vector field of aero-optical aberration after 5 μs; (d) aero-optical aberration contour along x-direction after 5 μs; (e) vector field of
aero-optical dithering; (f) Aero-optical dithering contour along x-direction.

Figure 22 BOS results of the second section in Mc=0.12 mixing layer. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberration contour along
x-direction; (c) vector field of aero-optical aberration after 5 μs; (d) aero-optical aberration contour along x-direction after 5 μs; (e) vector field of
aero-optical dithering; (f) aero-optical dithering contour along x-direction.

mm, the corresponding flowfield is 39 mm in height and 80
mm in length, and the spatial resolution is 0.06 mm/pixel.
Figure 25 shows the existence of the periodic ribbon
structures in the BOS images, and some ribbons intersect
each other. This means that the spanwise vortices begin to
twist. By comparison, the aero-optical aberration of span-
wise equals that of streamwise, which differs from Mc=0.12
mixing layer, because though the OPL of spanwise BOS is
smaller, the spanwise density gradient is larger than
streamwise, which corresponds with large OPD, hence the
displacement of background dots. The aero-optical dithering
effects led by the motion of vortices at specified interval are
reflected by time-correlative BOS images.
5 Conclusion
The supersonic aero-optical measuring method based on
BOS was studied. A BOS system has been built, both the
sensitivity and resolution of which have been analyzed. The
experimental study of the aero-optical performance of su-
personic mixing layer has been conducted. The streamwise
 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1 93

Figure 23 BOS results of the third section in Mc=0.12 mixing layer. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberration contour along
x-direction; (c) vector field of aero-optical aberration after 5 μs; (d) aero-optical aberration contour along x-direction after 5 μs; (e) vector field of
aero-optical dithering; (f) aero-optical dithering contour along x-direction.

Figure 24 BOS results of the first section in Mc=0.24 mixing layer. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberration contour along
x-direction; (c) vector field of aero-optical aberration after 5 μs; (d) aero-optical aberration contour along x-direction after 5 μs; (e) vector field of
aero-optical dithering; (f) aero-optical dithering contour along x-direction.

aero-optical aberration field clearly reveals the flow struc-
tures and aero-optical performance of laminar section and
K-H vortices. In the laminar section, the aero-optical aber-
ration of y-direction is far larger than that of x-direction.
With the rolling up of K-H vortices, the y-direction aberra-
tion decreases while the x-direction aberration increases.
The flowfield variation and aero-optical dithering led by
vortices motion can be calculated with the cross-correlation
analysis of two time-correlative background images. The
spanwise BOS experiments reveal periodic ribbons in BOS
images of vortices rolling up region. The ribbon structures
reflect the aero-optical effects of spanwise rollers in the
mixing layer. With the development of the mixing layer,
some ribbons intersect each other, that is, the spanwise vor-
tices begin to twist. The aero-optical dithering effects led by
the motion of vortices at the specified interval are reflected
by time-correlative BOS images. The high resolution, whole
field, and quantificational studies of aero-optical aberration
and dithering of the mixing layer contribute important ex-
perimental data to supersonic aero-optic studies.
94 ZHAO YuXin, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron January (2010) Vol. 53 No. 1

Figure 25 BOS results of the second section in Mc=0.24 mixing layer. (a) Vector field of aero-optical aberration; (b) aero-optical aberration contour along
x-direction; (c) vector field of aero-optical aberration after 5 μs; (d) aero-optical aberration contour along x-direction after 5 μs; (e) vector field of
aero-optical dithering; (f) aero-optical dithering contour along x-direction.

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.
10672178)
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