Four-dimensional (4D) tracking of high-temperature microparticles

High-speed tracking of hot and molten microparticles in motion provides rich information about burning plasmas in magnetic fusion. An exploding-wire apparatus is used to produce moving high-temperature metallic microparticles and to develop four-dimensional (4D) or time-resolved 3D particle tracking techniques. The pinhole camera model and algorithms developed for computer vision are used for scene calibration and 4D reconstructions. 3D positions and velocities are then derived for different microparticles. Velocity resolution approaches 0.1 m/s by using the local constant velocity approximation.