Intended for scientific use, this new technology could already be of interest to many professionals.

What these researchers have succeeded in developing is a new ultrafast camera system capable of capturing up to 156.3 trillion frames per second.

According to the scientists, this novel device, dubbed SCARF (swept-coded aperture real-time femtophotography), can capture “transient absorption in a semiconductor and ultrafast demagnetisation of a metal alloy,” as they explain in a news release.

Here, rather than capturing frames sequentially, one at a time, SCARF “enables ultrafast sweeping of a static coded aperture while not shearing the ultrafast phenomenon,” the researchers explain.

This discovery opens up an incredible range of possibilities, starting with capturing “unique phenomena that are ultrafast, non-repeatable, or difficult to reproduce, such as shock wave mechanics in living cells or matter.”

Ultimately, these advances could be used to develop more effective drugs or medical treatments, as well as generally improving the mechanical properties of certain materials.

The laboratory is already in contact with several professional equipment manufacturers in the world of physics, with a view to commercializing this technology one day.