New Camera Takes Billions of Pictures Every Second
新型照相机每秒拍摄数十亿的照片
Imagine a camera that can take one hundred billion pictures a second -- that is enough to record the fastest movements in the universe.
想象一下一个相机一秒钟能够拍摄1千亿的图片——这足以记录宇宙中最快物体的运动了。
But we do not have to imagine it, because a scientist has invented such a camera. He calls it an imaging system. It may seem like science fiction, but it is science reality.
但是我们不需要想象了，因为一位科学家已经发明这样一款相机。他称之为成像系统，这似乎有点象科幻小说，但是确实是科学事实。
Lihong Wang is a biomedical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He leads a team of researchers who have discovered several new imaging techniques.
王力宏是密苏里州圣路易斯华盛顿大学的生物工程师。他负责一个的研究小组已经发现多项新型的成像技术。
"For the first time, humans can literally see light pulses traveling in space at the speed of light."
“人类第一次能够看到太空中的光脉冲的速度。”
The speed of light is almost 300 million meters per second. At that speed, it would take just one second to travel around the world seven-and-a-half times. Mr. Wang photographs light particles moving at that speed using a unique camera.
光的速度大概每秒3亿米，照这样的速度，只需要一秒种，光就能绕地球七圈半。王先生用一款特别的相机拍下来光离子的运动。
"The streak camera is a very specialized device that allows us to convert time into space. We convert light particles, or photons, into electrons, then pull the electrons, really hard, at different rates, depending on the time of arrival. So the time of arrival will be converted into different vertical positions."
“这种光线相机是一种专业的设备，能够让我们将时间转换到太空中。我们将光能粒子或光子转换成电子，然后非常艰难地根据捕捉到的不同时间将电子转换成不同的射线。因此，到达的时间不同会被转换到不同的垂直位置中。”
Mr. Wang's new technology improves on other ultra-fast cameras in important ways. Until now, streak cameras could only take a one-dimensional photograph. That is like looking through a vertical opening and trying to take a picture of something flying by really fast.
王先生的新技术对于其它超高速相机的研究有重要的作用。直到现在，光线相机只能够拍摄到一维的照片。就好像是通过垂直性张开，试图拍下快速飞行的物体的照片。
The fastest cameras had to have an external, or outside, light source to work. But Mr. Wang's technique does not need special lighting. It produces two-dimensional images like regular photographs, but at a speed of one image every 10 trillionths of a second.
最快的摄像机需要有外部的光源来运作。但是王教授的技术不需要特殊的光，这种成像技术能够呈现像普通照片那样的二维图像，但是能够一秒钟拍到数万亿的图像。
Brian Pogue is a biomedical engineer at Dartmouth College in the eastern American state of New Hampshire. He reviewed the new imaging system for the science publication Nature. He says this new way of seeing the movement of light could lead to major scientific discoveries in areas like optical cloaking.
布瑞恩·波格是美国东部新罕布什尔州达特茅斯学院的生物工程师。他在《自然》科学出版杂志上评论了新的成像系统的技术。他称这种看到光运动的新方式会引起一些领域诸如隐形光学等方面的一些重要科学发现。
"Cloaking" is a kind of technology that can make an object -- like a spaceship -- seem to disappear. Mr. Pogue says the military would like to use cloaking.
"Cloaking"是一种技术，能够让一种物体，比如太空飞船看起来消失，波格表示军队会使用这种隐形技术。
"There's a lot of interest in getting light to bend around objects, so it sort of looks like you're seeing through them."
“让光在物体周围弯曲是很有趣的事，就好像你能看穿这些光。”
Brian Pogue says Mr. Wang's new system lets researchers photograph light as it bends. He says they have not been able to do that until now. He says this development could help make optical cloaking a reality.
布瑞恩·波格表示王教授的新成像系统因为可以弯曲所以能够让研究者拍到光的运动。他说直到现在才能够做到这一点。这一研究法阵能够让隐形的光学成为实实在在的东西。
Lihong Wang imagines other uses for the new camera in such scientific fields as molecular biology and astronomy. He says ultrafast imaging could lead to new discoveries.
王力宏设想这款新型相机的其它功能，比如在科学领域的分子生物学和太空领域的使用。他说这种超高速成像技术会引发一些新发现。
I'm Jonathan Evans.
我是乔纳森·伊凡斯。
Correspondent Veronique LaCapra reported this story from St. Louis, Missouri. Jonathan Evans wrote it for VOA Learning English. Christopher Cruise was the editor.
______________________________________________________________
Words in this Story
astronomy – n. the scientific study of stars, planets, and other objects in outer space
optical – adj. relating to or using light
cloak – v. to hide or disguise something
molecule – n. the smallest possible amount of a particular substance that has all the characteristics of that substance
technique – n. a way of doing something by using special knowledge or skill
What would you photograph with such a camera? What inventions have you read about in science fiction books or seen on television programs or in movies about the future that you would like to use? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the comments section.

New Camera Takes Billions of Pictures Every Second

A screen grab from YouTube captured by Wang’s new imaging system shows a laser pulse propagating in air and being reflected from a mirror. (Credit Lihong Wang, Washington University)

Imagine a camera that can take one hundred billion pictures a second -- that is enough to record the fastest movements in the universe.

But we do not have to imagine it, because a scientist has invented such a camera. He calls it an imaging system. It may seem like science fiction, but it is science reality.

Lihong Wang is a biomedical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He leads a team of researchers who have discovered several new imaging techniques.

"For the first time, humans can literally see light pulses traveling in space at the speed of light."

The speed of light is almost 300 million meters per second. At that speed, it would take just one second to travel around the world seven-and-a-half times. Mr. Wang photographs light particles moving at that speed using a unique camera.

"The streak camera is a very specialized device that allows us to convert time into space. We convert light particles, or photons, into electrons, then pull the electrons, really hard, at different rates, depending on the time of arrival. So the time of arrival will be converted into different vertical positions."

Mr. Wang's new technology improves on other ultra-fast cameras in important ways. Until now, streak cameras could only take a one-dimensional photograph. That is like looking through a vertical opening and trying to take a picture of something flying by really fast.

The fastest cameras had to have an external, or outside, light source to work. But Mr. Wang's technique does not need special lighting. It produces two-dimensional images like regular photographs, but at a speed of one image every 10 trillionths of a second.

Brian Pogue is a biomedical engineer at Dartmouth College in the eastern American state of New Hampshire. He reviewed the new imaging system for the science publication Nature. He says this new way of seeing the movement of light could lead to major scientific discoveries in areas like optical cloaking.

"Cloaking" is a kind of technology that can make an object -- like a spaceship -- seem to disappear. Mr. Pogue says the military would like to use cloaking.

"There's a lot of interest in getting light to bend around objects, so it sort of looks like you're seeing through them."

Brian Pogue says Mr. Wang's new system lets researchers photograph light as it bends. He says they have not been able to do that until now. He says this development could help make optical cloaking a reality.

Lihong Wang imagines other uses for the new camera in such scientific fields as molecular biology and astronomy. He says ultrafast imaging could lead to new discoveries.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Correspondent Veronique LaCapra reported this story from St. Louis, Missouri. Jonathan Evans wrote it for VOA Learning English. Christopher Cruise was the editor.

______________________________________________________________

Words in this Story

astronomy – n. the scientific study of stars, planets, and other objects in outer space

optical – adj. relating to or using light

cloak – v. to hide or disguise something

molecule – n. the smallest possible amount of a particular substance that has all the characteristics of that substance

technique – n. a way of doing something by using special knowledge or skill

What would you photograph with such a camera? What inventions have you read about in science fiction books or seen on television programs or in movies about the future that you would like to use? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the comments section.