A trillion frames per second: the techniques and applications of light-in-flight photography

Abstract

Cameras capable of capturing videos at a trillion frames per second allow to freeze light in motion, a very counterintuitive capability when related to our everyday experience in which light appears to travel instantaneously. By combining this capability with computational imaging techniques, new imaging opportunities emerge such as 3D imaging of scenes that are hidden behind a corner, the study of relativistic distortion effects, imaging through diffusive media and imaging of ultrafast optical processes such as laser ablation, supercontinuum and plasma generation. We provide an overview of the main techniques that have been developed for ultra-high speed photography with a particular focus on 'light-in-flight' imaging, i.e. applications where the key element is the imaging of light itself at frame rates that allow to freeze its motion and therefore extract information that would otherwise be blurred out and lost.