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Visualizing video at the speed of light — one trillion frames per second

Visualizing video at the speed of light — one trillion frames per second

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
1 HN recommenders · discussed 2011–2025
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About this video

MIT Media Lab shows an imaging system capturing a trillion frames per second, fast enough to film light pulses travelling through objects in slow motion.

Why it appears in the archive

HN cites it as the original and still-wow reference whenever newer ultra-high-speed light imaging comes up.

AI-generated summary and labels from the source dataset; verify important details against the video. Source & credits.

From the Hacker News discussion

bXVsbGVy · 2022-05 · rec

Since you are finding about femto-photo today, I think you are gonna love this: [LINK] [VIDEO] By the way. Femto laser are somewhat common nowadays. They are used in eye surgery and microscopy. I even seem papers talking about using them in finger print scanners! See Optical coherence tomography for more info.

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jcr · 2011-12 · reference

The relevant video from MIT Media Lab is here: [VIDEO] > MIT researchers have created a new imaging system that can acquire visual data at a rate of one trillion exposures per second. That's fast enough to produce a slow-motion video of light traveling through objects. > [LINK]

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soulofmischief · 2024-11 · reference

For those curious, here is prior art from 12 years ago, capturing light in a coke bottle with a single streak camera. [VIDEO] [LINK] I remember when this dropped and where I was when I watched it and read the paper. One of the coolest things I'd ever seen. This seems like a great extension of the work. I'm okay with trading accuracy for crude usefulness as a model. Making this interactive and putting it in the hands of curious minds is the next step.

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itishappy · 2024-11 · reference

> There's zero purpose for having a bottle with any label. Light interacts quite differently with the label than the material of the bottle. We get to observe scattering, diffusion, color... y'know, science stuff. It is rather interesting that the first video (from 12 years ago) used a blank red label instead. (See how it differs in from the rest of the bottle? I particularly like how it obscures the pulse itself and highlights the wavefront on the surface.) [VIDEO]

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itishappy · 2024-11 · reference

It's quite realistic, here's the same thing without AI: [VIDEO] I still share your concern, however, particularly because they seem to be avoid moving the camera without time moving as well. I was expecting bullet-time!

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westurner · 2025-05 · reference

Photons certainly appear to have a real physical location with 1e9 FPS imaging capabilities: "Visualizing video at the speed of light — one trillion frames per second" (2012) [VIDEO] But is there an identity function for a photon(s), and is "time-polarization" necessary for defining an identity function for photons?

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getpost · 2025-08 · reference

It's an apples-to-oranges comparison, but I'm reminded of the ~10^12 fps (1.7 ps exposures) demonstrated in work at MIT[0], which was for a completely different application. [0] [LINK] EDIT: Video with explanation. [VIDEO]

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jval43 · 2025-10 · reference

The original MIT video from 2011: "Visualizing video at the speed of light — one trillion frames per second" [VIDEO] (project site: [LINK] ) He mentions this as the inspiration in his previous video ( [LINK] ).

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