A camera has been developed that can shoot 4.4 trillion frames per second.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Japanese researchers have used a technique known as Sequentially Timed All-optical Mapping Photography (also called STAMP) to develop a super-fast camera that is 1,000 times faster than anything else available.
Unlike the traditional pump-probe process, which pumps light at a subject and then probes for absorption, STAMP uses single-shot bursts to obtain images. It then maps the spatial profile of the subject to the temporal profile at a 450x450-pixel resolution.
A research team of 12 scientists from Keio University and University of Tokyo have been developing a STAMP camera prototype, which is currently around a metre squared in size, for three years. Their work might one day improve the study of chemical reactions and heat conduction, but for now, their findings have just been presented through Nature Photonics's online edition on 10 August.
STAMP could also one day bolster the resolution and fidelity of captured shots. A STAMP camera could even allow lasers to correct cuttings, which is useful for manufacturing fields that use laser cutting as well as several medical applications.
The research team however first wants to shrink the size of its "world's fastest" camera.