Scientists have created a blazing-fast scientific camera that shoots images at an encoding rate of 156.3 terahertz (THz) to individual pixels \u2014 equivalent to 156.3 trillion frames per second. Dubbed SCARF (swept-coded aperture real-time femtophotography), the research-grade camera could lead to breakthroughs in fields studying micro-events that come and go too quickly for today\u2019s most expensive scientific sensors.<\/p>\n
SCARF has successfully captured ultrafast events like absorption in a semiconductor and the demagnetization of a metal alloy. The research could open new frontiers in areas as diverse as shock wave mechanics or developing more effective medicine.<\/p>\n
Leading the research team was Professor Jinyang Liang<\/a> of Canada\u2019s Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS). He\u2019s a globally recognized pioneer in ultrafast photography who built on his breakthroughs from a separate study six years ago. The current research was published<\/a> in Nature<\/em>, summarized<\/a> in a press release from INRS and first reported<\/a> on by Science Daily<\/em>.<\/p>\n Professor Liang and company tailored their research as a fresh take on ultrafast cameras. Typically, these systems use a sequential approach: capture frames one at a time and piece them together to observe the objects in motion. But that approach has limitations. \u201cFor example, phenomena such as femtosecond laser ablation, shock-wave interaction with living cells, and optical chaos cannot be studied this way,\u201d Liang said.<\/p>\n