1 Tera-fps Camera Needed to Observe Signal Travel through Neurons

Optics.org: Science Magazine paper "Picosecond-resolution phase-sensitive imaging of transparent objects in a single shot" by Taewoo Kim, Jinyang Liang, Liren Zhu, and Lihong V. Wang from Caltech says that fast frame speed is needed to study some biology processes:

"As signals travel through neurons, there is a minute dilation of nerve fibers that we hope to see. If we have a network of neurons, maybe we can see their communication in real time," Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering Lihong Wang says.

"Here, we present phase-sensitive compressed ultrafast photography (pCUP) for single-shot real-time ultrafast imaging of transparent objects by combining the contrast of dark-field imaging with the speed and the sequence depth of CUP. By imaging the optical Kerr effect and shock wave propagation, we demonstrate that pCUP can image light-speed phase signals in a single shot with up to 350 frames captured at up to 1 trillion frames per second. We expect pCUP to be broadly used for a vast range of fundamental and applied sciences."