  Dielectric breakdown is an example of a natural phenomenon that occurs on
very short time scales, making it incredibly difficult to capture optical
images of the process. Event initiation jitter is one of the primary
challenges, as even a microsecond of jitter time can cause the imaging attempt
to fail. Initial attempts to capture images of dielectric breakdown with a
gigahertz frame rate camera and an exploding bridge wire initiation were
stymied by high initiation jitter. Subsequently, a novel optical delay line
apparatus was developed in order to effectively circumvent the jitter and
reliably image dielectric breakdown. The design and performance of the optical
delay line apparatus are presented. The optical delay line increased the image
capture success rate from 25% to 94% while also permitting enhanced temporal
resolution and has applications for use in imaging other high-jitter, extremely
fast phenomena.

Optics;Applied Physics;Instrumentation and Detectors