--- title: "The World’s Fastest Camera Can “Freeze Time,” Show Beams of Light in Slo-Mo" description: "## High Beam" date: "2018-10-12" modified: "2018-10-12" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/worlds-fastest-camera-light" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "caltech" - "camera" - "jinyang liang" - "Light" - "the digest" - "university of quebec" --- # The World’s Fastest Camera Can “Freeze Time,” Show Beams of Light in Slo-Mo ![]() *\Image: Adobe Stock\* ## High Beam When you push the button on a laser pointer, its entire beam seems to appear instantaneously. In reality,though, the photons shoot out like water from a hose, just at a speed too fast to see. Too fast for the human eye to see, anyways. Researchers at Caltech and the University of Quebec have invented what is now the world's fastest camera, and it takes a mind-boggling 10 *trillion* shots per second —enough to record footage of a pulse of light as it travels through space. ## Spell "T-CUP" The extraordinary camera, which the researchers describe in a [paper]() published Monday in the journal *Light: Science & Applications,* builds on a technology called compressed ultrafast photography (CUP). CUP can lock down an impressive 100 billion frames per second, but by simultaneously recording a static image and performing some tricky math, the researchers were able to reconstruct 10 trillion frames. They call the new technique T-CUP, and while they don't say what the "T" stands for, our money is on "trillion." ## Ludicrous Speed The camera more than doubles the speed record set in 2015 by a camera that took [4.4 trillion shots per second](). Its inventors hope it'll be useful in biomedical and materials research. But they've already turned their attention to smashing their newly set record. "It's an achievement in itself," said lead author Jinyang Liang in a [press release](), "but we already see possibilities for increasing the speed to up to one quadrillion frames per second!" **READ MORE:** [World's Fastest Camera Freezes Time at 10 Trillion Frames per Second]() \[*INRS*\] ***More on high-speed cameras: [See the World’s Fastest Cameras in Action: 4.4 Trillion Shots Each Second]()*** ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()