By Doug Gross, CNN
A trillion exposures per second sounds amazingly fast. But that capacity is what you need in a camera if you're going to capture images of the speed of light.
A team of MIT researchers say they've created a revolutionary camera system that can, literally, render the speed of light in slow motion.
"There's nothing in the universe that looks fast to this camera," said Andreas Velten, a post-doctoral researcher who called the system the "ultimate" version of slow motion.
The imaging system relies on creative use of a streak camera - a tool used for measuring light's intensity. The team set up a series of 500 sensors, each programmed to go off one-trillionth of a second after the last.
The result, shown in a video on MIT's site, makes a laser-generated bolt of light appear as if it were moving slowly through a clear soda bottle.
Watch a video of the MIT imaging system in action.
For perspective on how difficult that is, consider that photons, or light particles, travel about 1 million times faster than a bullet, according to Ramesh Raskar, an associate professor on the team.
MIT researcher Andreas Velten shows off the camera system.
It takes only a nanosecond — a billionth of a second — for light to flash through the bottle. But MIT said it takes researchers about an hour to collect all the data necessary to assemble a video showing the movement of that light.
For that reason, Raskar calls the new system “the world’s slowest fastest camera.”
Such technology could be used in the medical, science and industrial fields, according to the researchers. It also could aid engineers in the development of better camera flashes.
"Because we can see those photons, we could use them to look inside objects," Velten said.
But don't hold your breath hoping to see one of these on the shelves at Best Buy or Fry's any time soon. The camera setup and laser are worth about $250,000, according to MIT.
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I'm coiuurs if you ever have problems with what people post? Honestly the internet used to be like a different place, except that recently it seems to have become better. Do you agree?
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rdkcus1 on February 13, 2011 Well I have three navigator and my brother has the 05 and 09 escelade I have the 1998 2006 and 2011 navigator but I must say I'm not a big fan of the 2011 I favor to tue 2006 it's flashy but not over exagrerating the car I love my 1998 navigator to it's just awesome but I'm thinking about goin to get the 2011 escelade esv platinum over the 2011 navigator
I think everyone is missing the point. This was / is simply a subliminal advertisement for Coke-a-Cola.
SEThatered on April 3, 2011 75000$ 30000$ Are you kdiidng me?Here at Stuttgart university (ger) a group of students constructed, made and installed a prototype. And it was less than 1000$ in total.And it was: carbon-fibre (blades), aluminium (support structure) and concrete (base).Replace cf with glass-fibres and it will be less than 600$.
merks62 on June 19, 2007 A full rieooratstn of this car would be unfortunate, in my opinion. After all, the way this Plymouth acquired its patina is as unique as it gets!
Sulu, Fire Photon torpedo's.
Call me simple minded, but if the light only traveled so far in the bottle how did the defused light travel far enough to reach the cameras?It would seem the camera would have to be closer than the distance the light traveled to record it and if that were true then how could the short "distance" be recorded? I be confused!
very very good point!
nmeoreprettyfacos on September 25, 2011 omg the sauve thing was so corny lol but hey its 2 free products so ill do it. i love your channel and facebook and site so great! im kat elliott on facebook it really would be great to have a forum and your site would be perfect for that
Getting to the root of a dcfuiiflt situation begins with looking for the answer. While may seem hard to comprehend but a lot hard times exist from the premise, not the conclusion.
Well, I for one am really glad we got all this cleared up. This was keeping us all awake nights. I thin k it was actually a root beer bottle, which would alter the scientific result by about three and one half picoseconds, bu that's neither here nor there.
My mother Sarah likes to 'do me' with her strap-on.
Yes, but is her strap-on a Coke bottle?
They had to use something like a bottle that would diffuse light outward towards the lens of the camera. Otherwise, you could not capture light from point A to point B without sensors being in the pathway of the light and only capturing light once it hits said sensors.
So in this photo, light is inside the bottle and on its way to the other end... but you can't see that light because it hasn't reflected or diffused to the lens.
Would it have been too much to expect to see the actual video instead of a still photo? I know I might not be able to garner much information but Id think that based on the content of the story it would be natural to show it.
A picture is worth a thousand words or in your case, maybe not. Concept, execution, move on.
This is quite fascinating, but it is actually not the first time a pulse of laser light has been caught on film. MANY years ago I remember seeing a still photograph of a pulse of laser light, perhaps an inch or so long, passing through a glass bottle filled with water. I tried Googling the image, but without success.
Overall I apemttt and consume my mix of Vitamin C from pills. While I'd really prefer to via a excellent meal plan it can be even more hard to at all times.
I never bought into he speed of light either. If two particles are traveling away from each other – both traveling 'almost' the speed of light – relative to the particle you're satnding on, the other will appear to be moving away at 'almost' twice the speed of light! Am I right?
What if you spin the interior of a disc to the speed of light... the exterior would necessary be traveling faster than that.
No.
You make an interesting point. Mathematically speaking you are correct.
p.s. The other particle won't "appear" as anything... because it is moving away and never landing on your retina.
Not according to Einstein. I may not fully understand relativity, but I Einstein is a safer bet than Greg
The distance between the two photons of light in the scenario you describe will be increasing at twice the speed of light. That perception would be relative to an observer outside either photon. If you were "on" the photon you would perceive nothing at all about the other photon, because information about the other photon's state cannot travel faster than light.
A more interesting scenario is if you were travelling on a photon in one direction and another photon was sent in the same direction 5 seconds later. If you ever measure the second photon, only 5 seconds of time will have passed, even if you travelled 100,000 lightyears before measuring it. This is called "time dilation".
MyFreeProductSamples on September 25, 2011 @myabigail100 Hey, I got a dry shmapoo, a shmapoo, and a conditioner. I did get them all at Target but in two shopping trips. Yes, I had to pay tax on them. Do you mean Target has a policy on only 2 free products/person or the Suave coupon does? I did the Suave video twice. Once at my home computer and once on my laptop. So the first time, I got a coupon for 1 free product and the second time I got a coupon for 2 free products. I hope I answered your questions
the speed of light is the same no matter where you are observing it from. It is a physical constant. Doesn't make sense? It shouldn't. You'll need to factor in time and space warping for the math to work out. Anything moving this fast affects the time and space grid around it quite a bit.
Wrong. No matter who is observing it, including the photons themselves, they'll be travelling away from each other at the speed of light. Time dilates to cope. This has to do with inertial frames of reference (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity) - in any event, no two objects can ever be seen by anyone to have more than the speed of light as their relative speeds.
I don't think we were seeing photons. You don't "see" a phonton; you see the effects of the photon. Same with wind.
aitunspzd on October 20, 2011 how about The One starring Jet Li. Gameplay would be RPG story would be similar to actual movie. Semi-Super cop chasing a criminal who is trying to go around killing himself in different dimensions to power himself up and he ends up being the character you play etc etc etc
Ali Harkness – I'm so happy to see that first picture again. I love it! I can't wait to live ceslor hopefully sometime we'll get to meet our friend Owen!February 8, 2010 7:59 PM
If nothing is faster than the speed of light, and the camera can capture the speed of light, then the camera is faster than the speed of light. Back to the drawing board on e=mc^2.
According to your logic our eyes won't be able to see since it would require our eye to sense faster than light? The camera isn't racing against the light.
I agree with Nope.
The camera uses a series of sensors, not just one. If it was just one, then you would be right: the sensor would have to be faster than the speed of light. But that is not the case. They triggered the sensor one-billionth of a second apart so that when put together, we can have a slow motion video of light. Each sensor, by itself, are by no means faster than the speed of light.
...So finally we can capture on film my girlfriend eating a pizza!!
I'm sure that MIT has stubbed it's toe in an attempt to create headlines. Having worked with Photo Optical Systems for some time, I'm sure they are only measuring the "Light Up Time" of their Electro Optical Capturing System. Things are difficult enough in basic research without headline grabbing techniques being put on display. The research and understanding of light is an important part of the knowledge about our world. MIT should try to regulate stories of this sort.
Respectfully,
Arden Rynew
jdludeuex on January 15, 2010 Sure, buy a cheap car from a country that hates Americans more than the al-Qaida. Korean limits all American imports to their country but we accept all their crap thus adding to our National debt. Buy American? and keep America financially strong. Remeber: Kia in Korean means BIG AMERICAN LOSER
Sweet! Now we can settle this neutrino question with an old fashion photo finish!
I wonder what this might capture that we don't see other than light~!!! ?
Amazing, I am curious what else is there that moves too fast to be seen~!
Questionable political maneuverings by the U.S. Congress
Elves!
can they do it to the sun to slow the day down
Ohh! I think I saw a god particle
Would this work with an empty bottle of Pepsi as well?
Yes, why wouldn't it?
No Pepsi....Coke.
Thank you for showing us what we already know.
We already knew you were stupid, yes.
its not as fast as Obama can provide stimulus funds to re-election supporters
Jerk. Go listen to your favorite high school graduates, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
Wow, another Kool-aid drinker...support your savior even though he's proven himself a joke...
Nerd!
Good point.
Looks like a coke bottle on its side.....
All this type of work will soon come to an end anyway.
Something far more important is being secretly pushed through right *now* while you're Xmas shopping... it's called the National Defense Authorization Act. This scary thing declares the whole of the United States a "war zone" and says that anyone may be detained indefinitely for any reason without trial or access to attorney. This applies to all Americans on American soil, and yet 99.9% of Americans know nothing about it
If it's so secret, how do you know about it?
Not very secret – a copy of the bill is available for viewing by the public. Also, you need to be declared a terrorist to be detained. I thought Obama said he was against all the heavy-handed anti-terrorist measures, but he is in favor of this one. Seems to be some disconnect between what he promised to do and what he is actually doing.
@HEYYOU
..."Seems to be some disconnect between what he promised to do and what he is actually doing." ...
Are you kidding ??? There are so many disconnects between what he promised to do and what he has done, this 500 camera array couldn't capture them all.... Guess that's what happens when our President golfs 80 times, takes numerous "vacations" and campaigns non-stop....
And how is this relevant to the article?
BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS BLACK HELICOPTERS
O, how I long for my simple hobbit hole back in the shire.
Willard walked up to me and asked what I was doing. I replied, "At the moment, answering your stupid question".
Um, actually he didn't have a question and you didn't actually respond to it, you commentated what you thought about what he said... maybe you shouldn't try and troll anymore.
Meanwhile, as government-funded scientists spend $250,000 to watch light pass through a plastic soda bottle, a homeless vet begs for change on the inner city streets...
You're a moron.
You're an idiot.
So we should abandon all science until poverty is eliminated? Right.
Where does it say that it was government-funded? I must have missed that. Considering that MIT is private, the natural assumption should be it was privately funded. Your conclusion is probably why you weren't the one who invented this, or anything on this level.
Think of it this way, take the "teach a man to fish" philosophy and extrapolate it. Such as – "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach humanity the many secrets of the universe and the whole species will prosper.
^This
You should be ashamed of yourself for not taking himself into your home.
I smell idiot.
Clearly you have no vision. You don't have any idea what this mean and what it could do to improve the lives of many people. Without science and experiment with would still be living in stone age.
The typical tired response to funding science. "Why spend money on science stuff when there's so many problems in the world?" This is the same thing as saying: "Why spend money on things which may contribute to improving the world when there's so much wrong with the world?" It circular reasoning.
I'll never read another science article until all the homeless vets are off the street.
WOW! Now to think of a practical application for it. Since all communication travels at the speed of light (ie. radio waves- you know, for TV & such), what can capturing light & being able to "freeze frame" it accomplish? We read chemical signatures from all of our observable cosmos using light, already. It will be interesting to see if a good use can be made of these cameras.
Imagine taking before and after pictures with simple technology. Now imagine many more befores and afters that can now be captured and viewed such as when various changes occur in any myriad of process. I think there could be many uses for such an application as described in the story.
I get it. A slower playback may reveal more detail of what changes. I guess my head was too much "out there" to grasp a more earthly application:)
I wanna see a nuke go off close up and in super-super-super-duper slo-mo! How about they do that experiment over Tehran?
Thank you for your help!Thank you and My best rdagres! Thank you and Sorry for so many questions but i really need your help.
Better lighting in video games!
Muriness1 on November 20, 2008 KIA does make good cars, I own a KIA (2004 Kia Optima) and its very reialble, saves gas and NEVER LEFT ME STRANDED. KIA does not have Toyotas reputation BUT KIA has come a LONG way from what they used to be. and TOYOTA and HONDA started off just like KIA did.
Yo, MIT, Imma let you finish inna minute, but I just gotta say that tachyons are the best particles of ALL TIME! ALL TIME!
Wasn't funny the first billion times.
You're a jerk
DynamicoDesigns on June 24, 2011 As one of my past eymlopers of over five years, I loved my job at 24-Hour Fitness I'm on a different career path these days (web developer), but always have great memories of working there Great video and thanks for being part of the equality for all' movement we are all equals.
Wonder if the scientist's at CERN could use this with their Higgs Bosom project?
I see what you did there bra! ; )
lol
Help me on this, to capture the speed of something, the recording device has to be as fast/faster than that thing. We know the speed of light is a theoretical limit, so there isn't a device that will travel faster (I know warp and the like), so did the bottle (and atmosphere) slow light down sufficiently to have the device record it?
Did you read the article? It clearly states the system is composed of 500 sensors firing in sequence. The SYSTEM as a whole captures the sequence. Nothing in the camera system actually travels faster than light. It's like having 500 cameras, one shooting after the other. All you have to do is control the time delay between each shot.
I wondered the same thing at first. My understanding is that the "camera" is not a traditional lens and shutter system like we typically think of, but 500 linked sensors that each take an exposure one trillionith of a second after the previous, in succession. That way you can link the images together to form a video, but the shutter doesn't have to move faster than the speed of light, which is impossible.
You're not looking at it correctly. The camera doesn't MOVE faster than the speed of light. It snaps photos fast enough to show the front of a light beam at one position in one photo and in a second position in the next photo. As long as the pics are snapped at one/nanosecond, you should be able to see the light change position by about 1 foot between consecutive frames.
The sensors are not moving. The "shutters" in the sensors must open and close fast enough to capture the bolt of light as it passes through the bottle. Just think of a photography on the sidelines a a track meet. The people run the camera is usually stationary.
The camera takes pictures of instantaneous events, at a high frame rate. The ultimate limit for frame rate is infinity, where it stops being a frame, and becomes a live and seamless event. Speed, such as light, is a rate over time, and quite the opposite of an instantaneous event. You can't measure speed instantaneously, speed has to be an average. Trying to record an instantaneous speed is the same as dividing by zero, it can't be done. The camera is not traveling like the light is, the camera is simply making so many observations, that it can see light travel.
Also don't forget that the speed of light as a limit is being challenged. New theories beyond Einstein's The Theory of Relativity are being explored all the time.
Mr.Bo, YES I read the article. Then this is no different than recording the info from a particle accelerator. The aggregate records the event, not a single camera. That was my confusion. Thanks for those that contributed.
I?m not that much of a irtennet reader to be honest but your sites really nice, keep it up! I'll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back in the future. Cheers
It's like the very large panorama pics, where the camera sweeps across from one end to the other. My class pic was like that. Kids used to start at the beginning end, duck down behind the back row, sprint down to the other end and be in the same picture twice, on both ends. They just do it with a laser, and use a mirror to do the movement so they can get all angles of the light. They then combine all the different pictures (which were taken at different times) into one complete picture. Even tho it's an amalgamation, it still clearly shows how light moves. Hope that helps.
No, what they basically did, was use a number of "cameras" that recorded the even sequentially. ie; at a trillionth of a second one after the other. That is also the way film works in a motion picture (although with a single camera at much slower sequential speed) and that is why it takes them so long to gather all the data and assembled it in the form of a video. Pretty ingenious.
Actually, I think their process was even more complex.
Based on the linked video, I think, they basically did a 500 line scan as each trillionth of a sec position. Their light source is a laser that emits pulses of light a such a high rate that it looks like a continuous beam. By timing the exposure of a single-line sensor camera at the same trillionth of a sec, which would put the light pulse at the same physical position in the scene, and then repeating for each of the 500 "streak" (or line) sensor, you would have one "frame" of the video.
Reset for next position, i.e. next determined trillionth of a second pulse position, and repeat for next frame.
At 32 frames per sec for standard video, that would be 500x32x60=960000 exposures per minute of video.
Anyone ever use a timing light to set the ignition timing on a car? That's what it reminds me of, but at one line (or streak) per exposure.
You're pretty much correct. if you want more information about it just google "raskar" and "trillionfps" first link is the MIT project page for this. i'd have provided the link myself but cnn won't allow it.
Anyone need a Coke?
How many people starved to death during this project?
Not enough. At 7.2 billion people, simple will tell you we will strave ourselves to death within 30 years at the present rate of growth.
From 1800 – 1954 2.4 Billion
1954 – Present 7.2 Billion
Your point?
So what's your point. The world should abandon science while there are hungry people on the planet? Perhaps a tad shortsighted?
How many medical technologies came out of the space program? Stop being a narrow minded buffoon.
3
How many people starved to death while you shopped for the computer that let you post your message?
I have absolutely no problem kicking in the proceeds from a few of my broomsticks if that will help you...
(rolling my eyes) ....bob ho, guess you better stop wasting time reading this article and start helping some starving people
You have spoke about saverel curious things here. I came across this article by using Bing and I have to admit that I already subscribed for your site, it is very fine (;
Are you saying they didn't drink the Coke?
How many lives will be saved by a sonagram-like device using light and other em spectrum radiation?
Heck, even a llitte mouse munching on lunch in a field knows it had better haul butt when it is suddenly darkened by a shadow.That was one of the funniest lines I've read this week!
@bob ho,
"How many people starved to death during this project?"
Didn't someone say the same thing to Jonas Salk?
Sadly, not you...
Oh who cares. Are we supposed to stop human progress because someone is dying?
Out of the many, many qeoutisns I've seen on this site, that's the best one yet, well done mate. Such an obvious question that nobody has thought to ask it, plus a great answer.
Very good siogestugns, you just gained a brand new reader. What would you suggest in regards to your post that you made a few days ago?
More science bad! More food good! *chest-beat* *chest-beat* *chest-beat*
Instead of everyone commenting on how it is just a picture of a light on a bottle, how about you follow the posted link to youtube in the middle of the article and watch the actual video of the light traveling through the lightbulb. These guys don't work at MIT for no reason.
Throught the bottle I meant.
slairbacruz on September 19, 2011 have anyone of you tried GETFREENEOPOINTS(dot)COM? it works perfectly fine here. I got 10,000 neopoints roughly in 10 minutes.
Why do these science-eggheads insist on chasing moonbeams when they should be out working for a living? If "education" makes you think moonbeams are more important than making a living then maybe it's time we DID scrap all forms of it, like our wise republican bretheren propose! What possible good is being smart if you refuse to get in line?
So simple minded. I would say it's a shame, but... Well... You wouldn't understand.
He's getting paid to chase moonbeams while most of us are toiling for "the man" at some mundane, unimpressive task.
He wins.
How can you not grasp that understanding the world allows things like micro-chips to be developed, or new ways to treat injuries/sickness, etc. Every new discovery is merely a stepping stone to create new or improve on existing technology.
Too busy watching videos on all the technology that's been made possible and available by all the basic research that came before.
All i can say is that it's a good thing that they weren't trying to film light (or thought or anything else) moving through some of these peoples' skulls...
It's this type of technology that leads to advances in areas they never expected. Penicillin came out of moldy bread. Smoke detectors came out of the Apollo program. Open your eyes.
It's kind of sad to see that liberals don't even understand sarcasm from their own.
They ARE working for a living, idiot! If everyone thought like you, we'd all probably still be sitting in outhouses instead of on flush toilets. We pay for basic research because nobody has ever been consistently successful at predicting which forms of research will yield useful technological advances, some of which even you, concoclast, make use of.
Ignorance is tolerable; stupidity is forever. For the ignorant, we educate; for the stupid, we pray.
"Thomas Edison, you come in here right this minute! Stop fooling around with those glass bubbles you've been making and go buy some candles! It's almost dark!"
KuBeRkId on October 31, 2011 i poersnaly think this give away is going to be the best of all because that 2x2x1 is amazing and im trying to buy on but it would be gr8 to get it from my hero
@conoclast,
And yet you wasted enough time learning to read and (sort of) write, use a computer, etc.
Why don't you go dig a ditch or something? I'm sure that would be more productive than espousing your opinion on blog site, at least for you anyway.
drone technology travels faster than light
I saw the image of Satan in the light in the coke bottle. This is obviously Darwinian propaganda & should be immediately halted..A stop that stem cell stuff while your at it.....Signed Newt
I KNOW IT SOUNDS LAME BUT THIS TECHNOLOGY IS VERY VERY PROMISING CONSIDERING THAT ONE TECHNOLOGY MAY BE THE MOTHER OF A NEW ONE...WITH THE SAME CONCEPT BUT MORE USEFUL...IT'S THE WAY TECHNOLOGY WORKS...HAYLOW HAY-D-ONDOWS...
There will be some applications in Astronomy. Cool Stuff!!!
While a setup that impressive is obviously outside the reach of hobbists.. I wonder if the same basic technique could be used to produce DIY high speed cameras of lower quality....
@Carter – What's point? Light traveling through a medium that you can photograph. Makes sense to me.
It wasn't a serious comment Mike. The headline of the article got my expectations up very high, so I was expecting to see some amazing image of what light actually looked like in slow motion. Granted that probably was an unrealistic expectation, but still I was disappointed to see a hazy picture of a Coke bottle.
If you would have followed the link to youtube you would see the actual video.
Simply amazing!
Agreed.
That's just a 2-liter plastic Coke bottle turned on it's side. What do these scientists take us for??
I concur. Maybe we should get the Nobel Prize for uncovering this hype.
you're a dolt... thats the light going through the bottle. they captured the light before it went all the way through.
You are a genius. Thank you so much for explaining it to me in terms I could understand.
knlivec13 on November 3, 2011 Look forward to seeing you this year at our Image Style Studio stand, bringing Hollywood to Perth.
I have been in slmiiar situations before. Its not as easy solution as you thought it is, its something that you'll have to write out for yourself over a period of time.