Smartphone Schlieren

TL;DR

This paper introduces an affordable, smartphone-based schlieren imaging system designed to be accessible for educational and hobbyist use, featuring 3D printed parts and low-cost components.

Contribution

It presents a low-cost, easy-to-assemble schlieren system with detailed design files, enabling wider access to optical imaging for non-experts.

Findings

Captured schlieren images of a butane lighter, compressed air jet, and electric stove.

Demonstrated system's effectiveness with clear visualizations.

Made design files publicly available for community use.

Abstract

We present a schlieren system comprised of 3D printed optical mounts, a sub-$10 mirror, and a smartphone camera. The system is intended to make schlieren imaging accessible to K-through-12 students, educators, as well as hobbyists. In the manuscript, we detail the design of the system, provide source files for continued iteration, and show some example schlieren images and videos of a butane lighter, a jet of compressed air, and an electric stove.