Science Daily January 13, 2021
Chaotic systems play a large role in the world around us. They exhibit behavior that is predictable at first but grows increasingly random with time. A team of researchers in the US (Caltech, University of Southern California) designed an ultrafast camera that recorded video at one billion frames per second to observe the movement of laser light in a chamber specially designed to induce chaotic reflections where light takes a different path every time the experiment is repeated. Compressed ultrafast photography (CUP) cameras are capable of speeds as fast as 70 trillion frames per second making it possible to take a video of light. Another feature that make them uniquely suited for studying chaotic systems is that it shoots all its frames at once. This allows the camera to capture the entirety of a laser beam’s chaotic path through the chamber all in one go. The work introduces a new angle to the study of nonrepeatable optical chaos, paving the way for fully understanding and using chaotic systems in various disciplines…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Schematic of the CUP system and the half-mushroom cavity. Credit: Science Advances 13 Jan 2021: Vol. 7, no. 3, eabc8448