Breaking Through Time: World’s Fastest Camera Captures Phenomena at 156 Trillion Frames per Second

The world’s fastest camera, capable of capturing footage at an astounding rate of 156 trillion frames per second (fps), is revolutionizing our ability to observe ultrafast phenomena previously invisible to us, according to scientists. Described in a study published in the journal Nature Communications on Feb. 21, this groundbreaking device employs a novel optical technique to extract 132 frames from a single pulse of an ultra-fast laser.
This technological marvel enables researchers to witness events occurring in femtoseconds, which are one quadrillionth of a second. The implications of this advancement span various fields, from the development of new computer memory technologies to innovative ultrasonic medical treatments.
Lead author Jinyang Liang, an associate professor of optics at the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS) in Quebec City, emphasized the significance of this camera as more than just a scientific novelty, stating, “We are on the verge of developing a very generic imaging system that allows us to see lots of phenomena that were not accessible before.”
The primary challenge in capturing ultrafast phenomena lies in the limitations of conventional camera sensors, which can only record footage at rates of several hundred million fps. However, many natural events unfold on timescales several orders of magnitude faster than this.
While previous methods, such as the “pump and probe” approach, have been used to capture superfast phenomena, they are limited to static samples or precisely repeatable events. Even optoelectronic sensors achieving speeds of up to 10 trillion fps fall short for many phenomena.
Liang’s lab previously achieved speeds of up to 70 trillion fps with an approach called “compressed ultrafast photography.” Now, they have doubled that record with a new method called “swept coded aperture real-time femtophotography.”
This new technique relies on a “chirped” laser, where light wavelengths are stretched out so that light of different colors arrives at different times. By passing through a grating and a mask resembling a QR code, the light imprints distinct patterns onto each wavelength, allowing them to be separated and recombined using specially designed software.
While the current approach can only produce movies up to 132 frames long, capturing phenomena up to 850 femtoseconds, it has already demonstrated its ability to record significant events, such as semiconductor absorption and magnetic material demagnetization. These applications hold promise for advancing technologies like magnetic-based computing memory and understanding cellular responses to ultrasound shock waves, with potential implications for medical treatments.

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