Scientists from the Jalali Lab, a part of University of California in Los Angeles [UCLA] developed a camera that captures 6.1 million frames per second. That's correct - 6.1 Million FPS! This number puts this prototype camera to be the fastest camera created in human history.
The camera itself is based on a laser that emits different Infra-Red frequencies to light up the targeted object. This technology - Serial Time-Encoded Amplified Microscopy [STEAM - direct link to research paper PDF document] is described in a brand new edition of Nature magazine. At the moment STEAM can take a picture with a resolution of only 3000 pixels, but if the future plans come to the surface, UCLA could to develop a version with 100 million fps.
Scientists gave out examples of usage is such as blood analysis - ultrafast cameras such as this one could record a flow of blood in real time and even help to detect infected or malignant cells, and catch a disease in early stage. Just like most of revolutionary projects, US DoD [Department of Defense] is the major financing engine for this research.
You can see the YouTube video of this camera in action if you click on this link: 6.1 Million FPS camera.
