The fastest camera in the world, T-CUP, can "freeze time" and see the light in slow motion

Scientists have come up with what could be the fastest camera in the world, capable of capturing 10 trillion frames per second, which can "freeze time" to see the light in slow motion. This breakthrough could help better understand the still undetectable secrets of the interactions between light and matter, according to scientists at the California Institute of Technology in the United States.

The study published Oct. 11 in the journal "Light: Science & Applications" showed that the new system based on a femtosecond scanning camera incorporated a type of data acquisition used in applications such as tomography .

The fastest camera in the world, the T-CUP

Setting the world record for real-time imaging speed, the camera called T-CUP (Compressed High-Speed ​​Photography) can power a new generation of microscopes for the biomedical, materials science and other fields.

• This camera represents a fundamental change, allowing us to analyze the interactions between light and matter at an unequaled temporal resolution.
• The first time that it was used, the super-fast camera innovated by capturing in real time the time focus of a single femtosecond laser pulse.
• This process was recorded in 25 images taken at an interval of 400 femtoseconds and detailed the shape, intensity, and tilt angle of the light pulse.

"This is a feat in itself," said Jinyang Liang, a specialist in high-speed imaging at INRS (French University), an engineer at the Caltech Optical Imaging Laboratory (COIL) during the research, according to the press release of the University.

"But we are already seeing opportunities to increase the speed to a quadrillion frames per second." Speeds like this are sure to give insight into the still undetectable secrets of interactions between the light and matter, "he added.

Compressed ultra-fast photography

In recent years, the junction between innovations in nonlinear optics and imaging has paved the way for new, extremely effective methods for the microscopic analysis of dynamic phenomena in biology and physics. However, harnessing the potential of these methods requires a way to record real-time images at a very short time resolution – in a single exposure.

Using current imaging techniques, measurements taken with ultra-short laser pulses must be repeated several times, which is appropriate for some types of inert samples, but impossible for others more fragile.

Operating Principle of T-CUP (Image: Light: Science & Applications Study published by Caltech)

For example, laser etched glass can tolerate only a single laser pulse, which leaves less than a picosecond to capture the results. In such a case, the imaging technique must be able to capture the entire process in real time.

Compressed ultra-fast photography (UPC) was a good starting point. At 100 billion frames per second, this method has approached but does not meet the specifications required to integrate femtosecond lasers.

"We knew that using only a femtosecond scanning camera, the quality of the image would be limited," said Lihong Wang, director of the Caltech Optical Imaging Laboratory (COIL).

"So, to improve this, we have added another camera that acquires a static image.With the image acquired by the femtosecond scanning camera, we can use what is called a radon transformation for get high quality images while recording ten trillion images per second, "added Wang.

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