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YouTuber’s DIY Rig Visualizes Light at 2 Billion Frames Per Second

The garage-built rig reconstructs frames from one-pixel sweeps, offering a lower-cost glimpse of light propagation.

Overview

  • Haidet published the demonstration on October 17, showing a laser beam progressing through a mirror path in extreme slow motion.
  • The system captures sequential one-pixel traces using a gimbal-driven mirror and then tiles them into apparent full frames at 2 billion fps.
  • Fog-scattered photons are measured by a photomultiplier feeding an oscilloscope at 2 billion samples per second with a combined signal and sync line to reduce noise, as described in his video.
  • The build is a ground-up upgrade from his 2024 billion-fps setup, adding higher-precision motors, strengthened optics, and redesigned software to handle data throughput.
  • Light advances roughly six inches per frame at this rate, and perceived differences in arrival times across the beam result from varying path lengths rather than any new physics; professional lab systems have reached far higher rates using costly specialized gear.