Visualizing video at the speed of light — one trillion frames per second
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN cites it as the original and still-wow reference whenever newer ultra-high-speed light imaging comes up.
What it is
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.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2011 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends bXVsbGVy · 2022-05 · on “Exporting Data from Old Gear Through LCD Sniffing”
Since you are finding about femto-photo today, I think you are gonna love this: [LINK] [this 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.
Cites jcr · 2011-12 · on “Trillion-frame-per-second video”
The relevant video from MIT Media Lab is here: [this 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]
Cites soulofmischief · 2024-11 · on “U of T computational imaging researchers harness AI to fly with light in motion”
For those curious, here is prior art from 12 years ago, capturing light in a coke bottle with a single streak camera. [this 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.
Cites itishappy · 2024-11 · on “U of T computational imaging researchers harness AI to fly with light in motion”
> 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.) [this video]
Cites itishappy · 2024-11 · on “U of T computational imaging researchers harness AI to fly with light in motion”
It's quite realistic, here's the same thing without AI: [this 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!
Cites westurner · 2025-05 · on “'Strange metals' point to a whole new way to understand electricity”
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) [this video] But is there an identity function for a photon(s), and is "time-polarization" necessary for defining an identity function for photons?
Cites getpost · 2025-08 · on “Los Alamos is capturing images of explosions at 7 millionths of a second”
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. [this video]
Cites jval43 · 2025-10 · on “A laser pointer at 2B FPS [video]”
The original MIT video from 2011: "Visualizing video at the speed of light — one trillion frames per second" [this video] (project site: [LINK] ) He mentions this as the inspiration in his previous video ( [LINK] ).