Light In Slow Motion

Wow. Thanks Kate, that was some presentation. The next 10 years are going to be fun.

They have open sourced all the data and methodologies, he says at the end. Clearly this will have no application in climate [scare] science.

Yes,like "Stuart" says.

Real scientists aren't afraid of sharing the data,but I suppose the AGW/CC data was a matter of National Security,or at least the climate profiteer's financial security.

Thank is a GREAT idea for the video...

I have some issues with this. Inuitively it seems wrong.

Remember that the in order for us to see this pulse of light, photons have to reach our camera. Yet we are supposely seeing the original "packet of photons" as it makes its way through the packet.

I don't doubt it's fast photography, but the notion of "seeing photons in motion" seems false.

I'm sure there will be some significant medical applications from this methodology as we learn to correlate skin absorption/re-radiation of ultra short laser pulses with various pathologies.

The unstated assumption is that the ultra-short laser pulse is not changing the medium which is targeted. If one assumes this to be the case, then building up a picture of how the packet of photons interacts with the target through a process of averaging multiple pulses is valid. Signal averaging is a well known technique in many fields to extract signal from noise.

I thought it was a really neat technique and will be interested to see what applications result from it over the next 5-10 years.

Will this be used in a new diet fads though?

So, fiddle is the designated troll for this thread? As a photographer and technologist(retired), I never take anything for granted but neither do I dismiss it either.

I've watched it again, and thought about it some more.

I believe that we are seeing here is a computer generated animation of what a conceptual packet of photons WOULD look like based on the computer recontruction of the various reflected/diffracted photons.

Super fast imaging permit the breakdown of the order in which the reflections arrive, so you can computer model backwards and reconstruct the theoretical packet that created them.

It's cool, and no doubt very advanced, but hardly a photograph of a light beam in motion.

I can't believe I wasted 12 minutes, watching this video, waiting for him to ride around on a magic carpet.

Seriously, though, this is a bit far-fetched. Capturing a laser beam, in mid-stream, with perfectly truncated ends? Not likely.

"I don't doubt it's fast photography, but the notion of "seeing photons in motion" seems false. "

Yeah, I'm with you, the whole thing about faster than light and all... that being said, perhaps they are referring to ...nah, it's beyond me. I'm skeptical they are measuring and seeing that they they think they are, but I am impressed.

How will we ever harness such a technology? How is it possible to interface/activate it? A 10 second video would have a file, so big, it would take a supercomputer to store it. I remember hearing a news report, 20 years ago, about someone coming up with an artificial eye. I turned up the radio, and did sort of a "wow", and my young co-worker turned to me and asked; "how would they interface it with your brain?" Kind of put it all into perspective.

That was amazing. The things this could lead to...cheap and common spectroscopy...with your camera phone!

coach at August 26, 2012 9:57 PM
"Capturing a laser beam, in mid-stream, with perfectly truncated ends? Not likely."

Yeah just too many conflicting matters....

I have reflected (pun) on this and have decided it is merely computer imagery....

Sounds a lot like a hologram. Still cool.

Heh.

Or... the military will pay big bucks to turn that into a recon device. :)

Of couse we are not seeing all of the packet of photons directly.
Thats why they shone it through the Coke bottle.
We are seeing the scattering of light as the laser pulse travels through the bottle.
Do not misinterperet the idea of "packet" as a single photon.
I don't doubt it's fast photography, but the notion of "seeing photons in motion" seems false
How do you see if not via photons? There is no such thing as photons at rest. By defiition all photons travel at the speed of light.