This camera captures 156.3 trillion frames per second

Scientists have created an ultra-fast scientific camera that captures images at a coding rate of 156.3 terahertz (THz) per individual pixel, equivalent to 156.3 trillion frames per second. Dubbed SCARF (coded aperture real-time femtography), the research camera could lead to breakthroughs in the fields of studying small events that come and go too quickly for today's more expensive scientific sensors.

SCARF has successfully captured ultrafast events such as absorption in a semiconductor and demagnetization of a metal alloy. The research could open new horizons in areas as diverse as shock wave mechanics or the development of more effective drugs.

He was leading the research team Professor Jinyang Liang Canadian National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS). He is a globally recognized pioneer in the field of high-speed photography, and has built on his achievements from a separate study conducted six years earlier. The current research was published in nature, Sum it up In a press release from INRS the first mentioned On by Teach daily.

Professor Liang and his colleagues designed their research as a new experiment with ultra-fast cameras. These systems typically use a sequential approach: capturing frames one by one and stitching them together to monitor moving objects. But this approach has limitations. “For example, phenomena such as femtosecond laser ablation, shock wave interaction with living cells, and optical chaos cannot be studied in this way,” Liang said.

The new camera builds on Liang's previous research to overturn the logic of the traditional high-speed camera. “SCARF overcomes these challenges,” Julie Robert, INRS communications officer, wrote in a statement. “Its imaging method enables ultra-fast scanning of the fixed encoded aperture with no ultra-fast clipping phenomenon. This provides full sequence encoding rates of up to 156.3 Hz for individual pixels on a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. These results can be obtained in a snapshot One with adjustable frame rates and spatial scales in both reflection and transmission modes.

In very simplified terms, this means that the camera uses a method of computational photography to capture spatial information by allowing light to enter its sensor at slightly different times. Not having to process spatial data in real time is part of what frees the camera to capture extremely fast “chirp” laser pulses at a rate of up to 156.3 trillion times per second. The raw image data can then be processed by a computer algorithm that decodes successive inputs, turning each of the trillions of frames into a complete image.

Remarkably, it did so “using off-the-shelf optical components and passive optical components,” as the paper describes. The team describes SCARF as low-cost with low power consumption and high measurement quality compared to existing techniques.

Although SCARF is more research-focused than consumer-focused, the team is already working with two companies, Axis Photonique and Few-Cycle, to develop commercial versions, likely for their peers at higher education or other scientific institutions.

To get a more technical explanation of the camera and its potential applications, you can do so View the full paper at nature.