MIT's New Camera Can Take 1 Trillion Frames Per Second

First time accepted submitter probain writes "MIT has made a camera that can take trillion frames per second! With this high speed capability, they can actually see the movement of photons of light across a scene or object. This is just mind-boggling." ExtremeTech has a nice video of the system, too. What would you like to see slowed down to such a degree?

Comments

Oblig. Futurama (paraphrased)

[Dachannien]

Morbo: Photons do not work that way! Good night!

Seriously. You can't detect a photon unless it actually collides with the detector. So how do you detect movement of photons across a scene?

Time to watch

[mbone]

Times, at 30 fps, to watch

- a lightning strike move 1 meter : ~ 1 week
- one bullet streak by Neo's head : ~ 100 days
- one boob bounce on Baywatch : ~ 1 century

Better bring lots of popcorn.

Re:What

[timeOday]

Not a new technology, just a variation on existing tech.

I have never seen a new technology appear that was not met with that reaction on slashdot. I think people have some serious misconceptions about what science looks like when you follow it on a daily or weekly basis. Step functions exist only in theory.

Re:What

[Hatta]

What you are seeing is probably a sphere of expanding plasma. It can't possibly be a "sphere of light" because light travels at the speed of light. By the time you could see the sphere, you would be inside it.